UmRARYOFCOA^GRESS. 

f '¥ |w¥it |o - 



JI/^. 



^^c// . 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ^ 



THE 

POWER OF GRACE 



O VE R 



ACQUIRED HABITS, SPECIAL INBORN 

PERVERSITIES, AND THE 

NATURAL APPETITES. 



"The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against 
the flesh ; and these are contrary the one to the other." Gal. 
5. 17. " Know ye not that your body is the temple of the 
Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are 
not your own ? For ye are bought with a price ; therefore 
glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's." 
I Cor. 6. 19, 20. " Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness 
of the flesh and spirit." 2 Cor. 7. i. 

BY 

REV. S. H. PLATT, A.M., 

Author of '•'The Gift of Fowej';^^ ^'Christ and Adornments ;^^ 

'^ Christ ia7t Separation from the Woi'ld f^ *' The 

Philosophy of Christian Holiness y " " The 

Ma7i of Like Passions, ^^ or '^ Elijah 

the Tishbite ;^^ 

'■'■The Wondrous Name/^ ''■The Christiaii Laiu of 

Giving/^ ''To £very Man his Work,'''' &^c. 



jBrooklyn, J^. Y. : 
S. HARRISON & COu 

1874. \^: 







\ 




Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1874, by 

S. H. PLATT, 

in the ofEce of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



^^M I 
" 



Introduction. 

It is the misfortune of most men to 
reach the years of mature judgment after 
an incipient training in some one or more 
species of Perversion, and to find them- 
selves then manacled by evil Habits of 
one kind or another, to break away from 
which requires all the energy and persis- 
tent efforts of their manhood. 

And too frequently, the struggle is felt 
to be hopeless from the outset, and the 
work of undoing is consequently begun 
so feebly, that it amounts to little more 
than an inefficient protest against a bond- 
age that continues unbroken to the end. 
Hence, life is full of sails drifting, in more 
or less dismantled conditions, on the lee 
shore of ruin. 

Vain the flying storm-signals ! Vain 
the ringing fog-bells ! Vain the booming 



IV INTRODUCTIOlSr. 

distress-guns ! The drift is shoreward 
still. There the breakers dash ! And 
there Des traction Inrks ! ! 

Is there any help ? 

If the Gospel be not a mockery, its 
glorious challenge to misfortune, fatality 
and despair — "-^ All things are possible to 
Mm that helieveth /" — is a riin^gii^g shout 

OF HELP AT HAISTD ! 

Read and know. 

The testimonies contained in these pages 
are in response to the following questions 
published by the Author, in various re- 
ligious journals, in September, 1874 : 

1. Can persons of nervous tempera- 
ment be so kept by the power of grace 
that, in times of continuous strain of 
duties while in a state of nervous exhaus- 
tion, they shall be free from all sense of 
irritability ? 

2. Is the felt irritability of temper, 
which often results from disordered bod- 
ily conditions, consistent with a holy 
heart T 



1 



liN^TEODUCTION. V 

3. Can men be instantaneously deliv- 
ered from the power of acquired habits, 
such as the use of tobacco, rum, etc., so 
that they shall thereafter have no craving 
for the indulgence % 

4. May those in whom the craving for 
narcotics or stimulants is hiborn^ and al- 
most as a natural appetite, expect deliv- 
erance from the desire, in answer to prayer 
for purifying grace \ ^ 

5. Can the strongest appetite of the hu- 
man organism be so subdued in a moment, 
by the power of the Holy Spirit, that 
thereafter solicitation to indulgence shall 
not disturb the peace of the soul 'i 

6. When, by reason of j)arental misfor- 
tune or perversity, that appetite is inborn 
in the child, and grows with his growth, 
can he hope, at any period of his vigor- 
ous manhood, for such deliverance as 
thereafter to rest from frequent or almost 
constant soul-harassing conflict with de- 
sire % 



THE 

POWER OF GRACE. 



CHAPTER I. 

A LL who believe in Divine Grace as a 
^^ gift of God to man, adfitfr^u^greater 
or less efficiency in it to accomplish the 
ends for which it was given. Much of our 
faith upon this subject is derived from the 
Holy Scriptures, which present its power 
under a great variety of aspects, and by 
means of the most expressive figures. 

Personal experience confirms the testi- 
mony of the Bible, changes the faith into 
knowledge, and renders the knowledge ex- 
act and discriminating. That knowledge 
expressed becomes Tinman testimony^ 
which is of greater or less value according 
to the circumstances of the case. When 
given upon matters of personal knowl- 
edge ; by those of sufficient intelligence 



8 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

adequately to compreliend the facts ; of 
sufficient integrity to intend fairly to re- 
port them ; so far free from prejudices 
warping judgment, and from influences 
controling decision, that truth to facts 
may be presumed to be practically attain- 
able ; and when all this is found in con- 
nection with amj)le opportunity to inves- 
tigate ; and moreover, in such circum- 
stances that, according to the ordinary 
laws of mind, investigation is imperative ; 
when, in addition to all this, there is ^o 
rehitttiiig evidence of facts, it is clear that 
such testimony must he received loithout 
serious ahateinent as to matters of fact. 

To affirm the contrary would be to un- 
settle all legal proceedings, uproot all his- 
torical evidence, destroy the very founda- 
tions of every natural science, and hence- 
forth render the acceptance of testimony 
upon any subject impossible. If, then, 
we have such testimointy to offer in this 
treatise, the mere fact that it is brought 
in contact with the intelligence of the 
reader, places him immediately under a 
double obligation, viz. : First, to honor 
God by a manly acceptance of this testi- 



THE POWEE OF GRACE. 9 

mony. Second, to honor God by confess- 
ing his conscience to be bound by the law 
of that testimony. Nor can any plea of 
evasion avail. It is an open, square de- 
mand on the part of fact (God's great 
Revelator), to be admitted within the do- 
main of accepted things ; and denial can 
be nothing short of treason to manliness, 
and rebellion against moral obligation. 

But suppose the testimony to be admit- 
ted, what then ? 

The facts affirmed DETEEMi]?^^l=theJME a s- 
URE of the power of grace so far as it has 
been applied in these particular instances. 
It may be needed equally as much in other 
instances. How shall we know ? That it 
IS needed in overcoming inborn perversi- 
ties, none can doubt. That it is sometimes 
needed in the control of acquired habits 
and natural appetites will be freely con- 
ceded, and by these rules let us ascertain 

WHEIS^ ! 

WlIETsT IIUMAIV WILL AND ENERGY RE- 
QUIRE AID TO MASTER ANY HABITS OR AP- 
PETITES THAT EXHIBIT THE FOLLOWING 
FEATURES, viz. : 

1. When they demand indulgences 



10 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

that mnst tend toward disease, by the 
operation of the chemical and physiology 
ical laws brought into play. 

2. When they call for indulgences 
that tend directly, and of natural conse- 
quence, to induce other habits of an inju- 
rious character. 

3. AVhen their indulgence transmits 
to posterity diseased conditions and per- 
verted tendencies. 

4. When indulgence is, of its own 
nature, so strengthening to selfishness, 
that spiritual interests are thereby sacri- 
ficed. 

To aflirm that habits or appetites, the 
indulgence of which involves either of 
these four classes of consequences, may 
be innocently permitted in any case merely 
as a self-gratification, is to deny all moral 
responsibility for our acts, and enthrone 
Desire as the Law-giver of our lives. For, 
if we may injure ourselves physically for 
no good end, and voluntarily load others 
with needless infirmities and sufferings, 
and of set purpose suLbordinate our spiri- 
tual natures to our fleshly lusts, then is 
the great Law of Love abrogated, and 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 



11 



Passion and Caprice are become the High 
Priests of our Destiny. 

Few will have the hardihood to assume 
such a position. 

If, then, the law of obligation demands 
of those whose habits are entailing either 
ot the four consequences stated, an aban- 
donment of such habits, and if the facts 
attested demonstrate the sovereignty of 
grace over similar habits in the experience 
of others, then does the overmastering 
povjer of grace (through prayefT^become 
the sheet-anchor of hope to all such. 

For the sake of others, then, if not for 
himself, let the reader peruse this little 
treatise to the end. 



12 THE POWER OF GRACE, 



CHAPTEK II. 

THE POWER OF GRACE YE ERADICATING 
ACQUIRED HABITS. 

T^XPERIENCE proves that the power 
^-^ of habit is so great, that it can only 
be broken by the most decisive measures. 
We call attention to but few of the many 
acquired habits to which men are in sub- 
jection, considering these as representa- 
tive of the whole. 

Section 1. The Tobacco Habit. 

Ought it to be eradicated ? In some 
cases, perhaps in most, it certainly should. 

If there are any doubtful examples, 
they may be settled by an application of 
the rules already laid down ; which we 
proceed to do carefully and without prej- 
udice. 

(1.) Does its indulgence tend toward 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 13 

disease, by the operation of the chemical 
and physiological laws brought into play '« 

Tobacco {JSficotiana Tohacuin)^ says the 
Encyclopedia Americana, is ''a nauseous 
and poisonous weed of an acrid taste and 
disagreeable odor, whose only properties 
are deleterious. ' ' The analysis of M. Pos- 
selt and Kiemann show the leaf to be com- 
posed as follows : Nicotine 0*07 ; extract- 
ive matter 2*87 ; gum 1*74 ; a green resin 
0*27 ;, albumen 0*26; gluten 1*05 ; malic 
acid 0*51; malate of ammonia::^^^^; sul- 
phate of potash 0*05 ; chloride of potas- 
sium 0*06 ; nitrate and malate of potash 
0*21; phosphate of lime 0*17; malate of 
lime 0*72 ; silica 0*09 ; woody matter 4*97; 
and water 86*84=100*00. During the fer- 
mentation of the leaves there is always a 
formation of ammoniacal salts. 

These elements yield three constituents 
when the tobacco is burned, either in pipes 
or cigars, viz. : 

1. About two grains to the pound, of a 
volatile oil, causing, when swallowed, 
giddiness and nausea. 

2. A volatile alkali — nicotine — from 
three to eight per cent. , one of the most 



14 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

dead! 3^ poisons known, and scarcely in- 
ferior to prnssic acid. 

8. An enipyreiimatic oil, produced dur- 
ing combustion, and so j)oisonous tliat a 
single drop on tlie tongue of a cat will 
cause death in two minutes, by operating 
directly uj)on the brain and neryous sys- 
tem like prussic (hydrocyanic) acid, while 
nicotine and the yolatile oil act chieHy 
through the motor neryes and paralyze 
the heart. Hence says Dr. Waterl;ouse : 
' ' We know of no animal that can resist 
its mortal effects." 

So dangerous and potent are its narcotic 
properties that it is seldom used for any 
purpose in medicine ; and, when used, the 
greatest caution is necessary ; for, eyen 
when administered by a faithful physi- 
cian, it has in many cases jproduced 
fatal results. A single drop of nicotine 
has been found to kill a dog, and small 
birds have quickly perished at the ap- 
proach of a tube containing it. One drop 
destroyed a half-grown cat in fiye min- 
utes. Two drops on the tongue of a red 
squirrel destroyed it in one minute. A 
small puncture made in the tip of the 



THE POWER OF GKACE. 15 

nose with a surgeon's needle, bedewed 
with the oil of tobacco, caused death in 
six minutes. Two drops of nicotine, in- 
jected into the jugular vein of a dog, have 
been found to act in ten seconds, proving 
fatal in two minutes and a half. 

Put a victim of the tobacco habit into 
a hot bath ; let full and free perspiration 
arise ; then drop a fly into the water — 
and the fly dies at the instant of contact ; 
so, leeches are instantly poisoned by the 
blood of smokers. Cannibalscwrfrnot eat 
human flesh which contains the flavor of 
tobacco. Even the turkey-buzzards of 
Mexico refused the flesh of soldiers ad- 
dicted to this indulgence ! 

These tobacco-essences are constantly 
being given off by insensible perspiration, 
and this is so abundant as sometimes to 
seriously affect the health of a bed-com- 
panion. 

Dr. Higginbottom, of Nottingham, gives 
this testimony after fifty years of exten- 
sive practice : ''Tobacco in every form 
has no redeeming property whatever, and 
at the present time is a main cause of ruin- 
ing young men, pauperizing working men, 



16 THE POWER OF GKACE. 

and rendering useless the best efforts of 
ministers of religion." 

J. Ronald Martin, F. R. S., a great liv- 
ing authority in diseases incident to warm 
countries, states from his own observa- 
tion, that the miseries, mental and bodily, 
produced by cigar-smoking, chiefly in 
young men, far exceed anything detailed 
in the '^ Confessions of an Opium-Eater." 

Says Dr. Solly : ' ' I know of no single 
vice which does so much harm." 

The German physicians state that of 
the deaths occurring among men in that 
country, between eighteen and thirty-five 
years of age, one half die from the effects 
of smoking. 

Dr. Trail declares that, ''Many an in- 
fant has been killed outright in its cradle 
by the tobacco smoke Avith which a 
thoughtless father filled an unventilated 
room." 

I was myself a witness to one such case 
in the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., when 
called to baptize a dying child, whose life 
was sacrificed to its father' s love of smoke. 

So depressing is it to the power of life, 
that it is declared on good authority 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 17 

that in the experience of prize runners 
(even those who at all times, except when 
training, are addicted to its use), one-third 
of a cigar, smoked the day before a race 
of two hundred yards, will diminish the 
speed by ten yards. 

Such being its properties, it is not sur- 
prising that Nature guards against its in- 
troduction into the human system by all 
the distressing symptoms attending its use 
at first. 

The experience of Dr. J. Or^a^son, 
as given in his '' Tobacco and its Effects," 
may be taken as representative : 

" As soon as I was able to realize the 
responsibility of my life in the feeblest 
degree, manhood was the state which was 
always presented to me for my considera- 
tion, and every motive that could be 
brought to bear upon me to its attain- 
ment was made effective. To be a man, 
not a child ; to be a man, not a boy ; to 
be a ma7i, not a youth ; was represented 
as the chief good after which I was to 
seek. Of course my mind became preter- 
naturally active and morbidly sensitive in 
respect to the accomplishment of this 
3 



18 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

great object, and as I saw that social po- 
sition had its symbols and types of recog- 
nition, and among these was the use of 
tobacco, either in the form of chewing or 
smoking, or more generally both, I deter- 
mined to bridge the chasm which separa- 
ted me from the manly, and to become, 
let what would happen to me, one of the 
initiated. 

' ' It was as beautiful a Sabbath morning 
in June as ever the sun shone upon in our 
clime, when I resolved, with all the fervor 
and energy characterizing my nature, to 
make the attempt. My father had a 
hired man of middle age who was himself 
a great tobacco-chewer, never using it in 
any other form. He advised me to com- 
mence by chewing, gave me directions 
about it, telling me what I must expect, 
announcing to me that I should be deadly 
sick, but that it would not last a great 
while, when I got over it, I must immedi- 
ately take another chew into my mouth, 
which would make me even sicker than 
before, and after this sickness passed away 
I should have little or no further trouble. 

" Our house was a modest farm-house, 



THE POWER OF GEACE. 19 

facing the public street, and shaded by 
beautiful locust trees. In front of the 
door was a large flat stone, and just before 
the threshold, on either side, stood two lo- 
cust trees shading the doorway. When 
our family had all gone to church, sitting 
down upon that stone and looking up 
through the opening spaces of the trees 
overhead, I introduced this poison into my 
veins. So far as I ever had consciousness 
of my conditions, they are as vivid to me 
now as they were on that morniiigTand no 
language of which I am the owner can be- 
gin to describe the terrible suffering 
through which, on that blessed Sabbath 
day, I passed. No effort that I have ever 
since made to secure to myself position 
with my fellows, to work out for mj^self 
a manly character, which should chal- 
lenge the public confidence, have been 
marked by a more decided self-abnegation 
or greater sublimity of spiritual feeling 
than I exhibited on that day. I had not 
only no thoughts of educating myself in- 
to a vicious habit, but on the other hand, 
I earnestly sought to possess myself of a 
means of becoming, though young, more 



20 THE POWER OE GRACE. 

respected and honored by every person 
whose respect and good will I was desir- 
ous to obtain. I do not believe that my 
heart ever went out in more earnest devo- 
tion, nor that I ever more sincerely prayed 
to Heaven to help me succeed in any effort 
that I was about to enter upon, than I did 
on that occasion. In five minutes my 
saliva had mingled with the tobacco which 
I had put into my mouth, and I began to 
be blind. In a little while after, I seem- 
ed to be thrown into illimitable space, 
driven on by forces of which I had no 
knowledge, but which were omnipotent, 
and for the better part of a life-time, as it 
then seemed, I drifted hither and thither, 
without the least self-control. I think no 
human being was ever more thoroughly 
intoxicated than I was. While I retain- 
ed, in extreme measure, consciousness of 
what passed on the occasion, there were 
no relations to personal existence which 
at the time were not, and ever since have 
not, been largely chaotic. How long, in 
fact, I was in that condition, I do not 
know, but probably not a great while, 
when insensibility ensued, and I lay down 



THE POWER OF GKACE. 21 

upon the flagstone, and there remained, 
until, at length, imder the reaction of the 
Vital Forces, consciousness returned, and 
I looked about and gradually found where 
I was. 

'' The battle was Tialf fought. I imme- 
diately opened my mouth and took an- 
other chew, when blindness and deafness 
ensued, twitching of the muscles, and 
deadly sickness, with severe prostration, 
followed, and I again became insensible. 
It was ten o'clock when I firstiseated my- 
self and entered upon my matriculation ; 
it was half -past two o' clock when I came 
out of the last; fit of insensibility. Drag- 
ging myself into the house by my hands, 
as a person would whose lower limbs had 
suddenly become paralyzed, I reached our 
pantry, and there found some cold coffee, 
which had been set aside from breakfast, 
and of which I drank largely, after the 
directions of my father' s hired man, pre- 
viously given. Soon I became relieved 
from my great nervous and muscular de- 
pression and was able to get up." 

Why all these symptoms then^ and not 
at a later period ? 



22 THE POTVER OF GRACE. 

The answer is found in this : 

''The grand characteristic of all nar- 
cotic substances, is their antUvital or 
life-destroying property. When they are 
not so highly concentrated or energetic as 
to destroy life instantly, they produce the 
most powerful and often the most yiolent 
and distressing yital reaction, which also 
causes a corresponding degree of exhaus- 
tion, depression and prostration ; and 
they often destroy life purely by yital ex- 
haustion in this yiolent and continued 
yital reaction. But when the discrimina- 
ting sensibilities of the system haye been 
deprayed by the habitual u^e of these 
substances, and its j)ower of giving a 
sympathetic alarm greatly impaired, these 
same substances, eyen the most deadly in 
nature, if the quantity be only commen- 
surate with the degree of physiological 
depravity, may be habitually introduced 
and even received into the general circu- 
lation, and diffused over the whole sys- 
tem, and slowly but surely destroy the 
constitution, and always greatly increase 
the liability to disease, and almost cer- 
tainly create it, and invariably aggravate 



I 



THE POWEK OF GRACE. 23 

it, without any of those symptoms which' 
are ordinarily considered as the evidences 
of the action of poison on a living body ; 
but on the contrary, their stimulation is 
attended with that pleasurable feeling and 
agreeable mental consciousness which 
lead the mind to the strongest confidence 
in their salutary nature and ejffects." — 
Graliam'' s Science of Human Life, 

Hence it follows, that the strength of 
the appetite may be regarded as a correct 
indication of the injury whicte:^it4ias al- 
ready wrought in the system, since that 
appetite is solely the eifect of the ''phys- 
iological depravity" that has been in- 
duced in creating it. This is a most im- 
portant fact, which certainly ought to 
disturb the ''pleasurable feeling and 
agreeable mental consciousness which 
lead the mind to the strongest confidence 
in their salutary nature and effects." 

If its killing power does not fix upon a 
single organ, it gradually diminishes the 
healthy forces, ending in general disease 
and premature age ; or, allowing its devo- 
tee to look firm and robust, it finally sev- 
ers the thread of life with a sudden, un- 



24 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

"expected stroke, which is thus explained 
by Dr. Twitchell : 

"The nerves of involuntary motion — 
those whose function it is to carry on the 
action of the lungs, heart and stomach — 
are placed beyond the power of the will, 
acting without our consciousness, in sleep 
as well as when awake ; and it is upon 
these the habitual use of tobacco produces 
its most pernicious effects, by paralyzing 
their action. 

' ' It first manifests itself in the respira- 
tion, which is imperfectly performed ; the 
blood is not fully purified, and a sense of 
anxiety or incipient suffocation is felt ; to 
relieve which a voluntary effort is made 
to expand the chest to take in more air ; 
and, every now and then, a deep inspira- 
tion or sigh is the result, giving momen- 
tary relief. 

''But, during sleep, especially when 
first going to sleep, the will not being so 
easily excited to action, the sense of suffo- 
cation is longer endured, till, at length 
becoming painful, a degree of conscious- 
ness is awakened ; the individual begins 
to feel his condition, and rouses, perhaps 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 25 

suddenly starts, and sits up in the bed in 
alarm, liis heart palpitating violently ; 
and, having obtained relief, soon goes to 
sleep, to pass through the same scenes 
again. 

' ' But, as the habit continues, the whole 
nervous system becomes affected ; the 
muscles become tremulous, the sensibili- 
ties diminish, respiration and the action 
of the heart become more imperfect, and 
suffocation more urgent ; but conscious- 
ness now fails to be roused to ^oiiLf orth a 
voluntary effort for relief ; and the poor 
abused and languishing nerves, whose 
office it is to stand sentinel at the foun- 
tains of life, obtaining no help from the 
muscles of volition, at last are compelled 
quietly to yield up the struggle ; and the 
person is found dead in his bed, the cause 
unknown." 

Sometimes the victims of the weed end 
their days in all the horrors of delirium 
tremens^ as was the case with Judge B — 
C — , who was very active and efficient in 
all benevolent enterprises, and one of the 
main pillars of the Congregational church 
at T . He made no use of alcoholic 



26 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

drink — was a distinguished friend of the 
Temperance Reformation, and made no 
use of tobacco, except for smoking, and 
for two or three years that was incessant. 
On his way to church he Ayould smoke 
till he came to the meeting-house steps, 
and then light his pipe on the steps after 
seryice, and for the last few months of 
his life he shut himself in his room, and 
mourned and smoked without cessation. 

A less mournful case was that of a 
Worthy Patriarch who was subject to 
delirmm tremens by the use of tobacco. 
He had horrible writhings — strange yis- 
ions — and objects of a hideous nature, 
well-nigh of eyerj form and hue, harrow- 
ed up his soul and wrought upon his 
imagination. On the recurrence of one 
of these painful paroxysms, the doctor 
fixed his eye on the eye of the maniac, 
and the following passed between them : 

'' Do you use strong drinks f ' 

''No." 

"Do you belong to the Sons of Tem- 
perance ?' ' 

''Yes." 

" I supposed you did. You use tobac- 



I 



THE POWER OF GKACE. 27 

CO. This is a tobacco fit — this is delirium 
tremens. Yon may die in the next one. 
Drop tobacco, or tobacco will drop yon." 

The former Worthy Patriarch dropped 
tobacco, and was cnred. 

It is the almost nnanimons testimony 
of physicians, that the nse of tobacco 
serionsly aggravates many diseases, does 
isroT preserve from malaria or contagion, 
and by its depressing effect upon the vital 
forces, often renders diseases fatal that 
would otherwise be easily curabfe Be- 
sides, we find laid down in medical books, 
EIGHTY -SEVEN diseascs named as caused 
by its use, and physicians estimate that 
twenty thousand of our people are killed 
by it every year. It is for these reasons, 
doubtless, that prize-fighters, when under 
training, are not permitted to use it at all, 
because they cannot aflford to risk a fail- 
ure in the fearful struggle that taxes to 
the utmost every sustaining and recuper- 
ative energy, merely for the sake of a 
transient indulgence. 

This point may now be deemed to be 
conclusively established, viz. : by the ope- 



28 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

ration of the chemical and physiological 
laws involved in the nse of tobacco, its 
invariable tendency is to induce disease 
in a healthy organism ; and therefore the 
tobacco habit falls nnder the ban of the 
first principle laid down in page 9, by 
which to determine the unjustifiableness 
of indulgence. 

But let us press the inquiry a little fur- 
ther. 

Sectiois^ 2. Is the Tobacco Habit an 
indulgence which tends directly, and of 
natural consequence, to induce other hab- 
its of an injurious character ? 

Says Dr. Griscom (''The Use of Tobac- 
co," p. 34) : ''One of the most common 
and serious effects is the demand for alco- 
holic drinks to satisfj^ the extreme thirst, 
and obviate the prostration of the physi- 
cal functions resulting from the high 
temperature and the narcotic influence of 
the burning weed. There is no doubt that 
a large amount of the intemperance now 
so prevalent, is the immediate and direct 
effect of tobacco-chewing and smoking, 
and no individual, however safe he may 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 29 

feel himself against intemperance before 
yielding to the temptation of tobacco- 
smoking, can rely upon himself to avoid 
it after considerable indulgence in the 
latter practice, as both his moral and in- 
tellectual sensibilities are almost certain 
to become impaired, whicJifact he cannot 
himself appreciate, 

'' It is therefore difficult and almost im- 
possible for a confirmed lover of tobacco 
to avoid the terrible evils of intemper- 



There is so much truth in this quota- 
tion, that we hesitate to modify its force 
in the least. Yet facts compel the admis- 
sion that the statement in the last para- 
graph is extreme. There are many ''con- 
firmed lovers of tobacco " who do not 
feel the ''difficulty" named; yet, the rea- 
son why they do not is a complete con- 
firmation of the correctness of Dr. Gris- 
com's general position, viz. : that the use 
of tobacco tends toward indulgence in 
spirituous beverages ; for the reason that 
they do not feel that difficulty we believe 
in every case to be this, viz : the excessive 
use of stimulants in some other form, such 
as tea, coffee, spices, etc. 



30 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

Says Dr. Rush : ' ' One of the usual 
effects of smoking and chewino;, is thirst. 
This thirst cannot be allayed by water, 
for no sedative, or even insipid liquor, 
will be relished after the mouth and throat 
have been exposed to the stimulus of the 
smoke or the use of tobacco.'' 

Says Dr. Mussey : *' In the practice of 
smoking there is no small danger. It 
produces a huskiness of the mouth, which 
calls for some liquid. Water is too in- 
sipid, as the nerves of taste are in a half- 
palsied state, from the influence of tobac- 
co-smoke ; hence, in order to be tasted, 
an article of a pungent or stimulating 
character is resorted to, and hence, the 
kindred habits of smoking and drink- 
ing. ' ' 

Says Dr. J. C. Jackson, pages 19-21 : 

''Inquiry, on a very large scale, into 
the habits of men who have been known 
as habitual drinkers of alcoholic liquors, 
has settled the point conclusively that 
their appetites for strong drink were cre- 
ated and made clamorous by their pre- 
vious use of tobacco, whose depressing 
effects upon their nervous systems were 



THE POWEB OF GKACE. 31 

such as to establish an instinctive or im- 
pulsive desire for an offset. 

''The chaplain of the State Prison at 
Auburn, N. Y., for the year 1854, 1 think, 
reports that out of over seven hundred 
male prisoners, six hundred were convict- 
ed of crime when under the direct or re- 
flex influence of ardent spirits, and that 
a personal inquiry into the appetitial hab- 
its of this class of persons brought out 
this startling and forcible truth^^^at five- 
sixths, or five hundred out of six hun- 
dred who were convicted for crime when 
partially or ravingly drunk, had, from 
their own statements, the desire for strong 
drink awakened in them so clamorously 
as to demand gratification at any rate, 
by the depressing effects on their ner- 
vous systems of the use of tobacco. Out- 
side of this statistical statement, my own 
investigations, in a much larger measure, 
go to corroborate the truth of this record. 
I have never yet known, in all my inqui- 
ries or researches, a single habitual user 
of alcoholic drinks who was not a tobacco 
chewer. I have heard of but one habitual 
drunkard who never used tobacco. 



32 THE POWER OF GKACE. 

''Now, while it does not universally 
follow that every tobacco-chewer uses ar- 
dent spirits, it will be fonnd uniformly to 
be the fact, that he does use some form of 
stimulant or excitant, as a substitute 
therefor. There are countervailing forces 
in operation in respect to the use of ar- 
dent spirits, such as the influence of pub- 
lic opinion against their use. A great 
many men and women, within the last 
thirty years, have had their moral sense 
very much exercised and educated in re- 
spect to the dangers arising from the 
habitual use of alcoholic liquors. But, 
while made sensible of the dangers in this 
respect, little or no instruction has been 
given in regard to the risks run from the 
use of intoxicating poisons of a different 
kind. Hence it will be found, upon close 
examination, that thousands of persons 
who have given up the use of alcoholic 
drinks, have substituted in their places 
table beverages, or intoxicating drugs, to 
make up for their loss of their old accus- 
tomed stimulant. In proof of this, sta- 
tistics go to show that opium, outside of 
the use of it by the profession as a medi- 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 33 

cine, has increased in sale over 300 per 
cent, within the last twenty years. Law- 
yers, ministers, artists, doctors, students, 
men of letters, in many instances, are in 
the daily use of opium. Others who do 
not use it, have substituted for alcoholic 
beverages, hasheesh — extract of hemp — 
or absinthe — extract of wormwood, whilst 
others use the strongest effusions of tea 
and coffee, drinking* these twice, at least, 
and very many of them three times a day, 
and along with these, using ^^Ee^tnost 
stimulating condiments upon their food, 
thus subjecting their nervous systems to 
such influence from the introduction of 
these stimuli and narcotic properties into 
their circulation as to make good, in large 
measure, for their total abstinence from 
alcoholic drinks. Thus related in their 
expressions of Nervous Force to the use of 
drinks and foods which serve in part as 
substitutes for alcoholic stimulants, they 
keep up their use of tobacco, and so 
demonstrate most manifestly the truth of 
the statement made above, that while 
every or nearly every user of alcoholic 
drinks does use tobacco, in some of its 



34 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

forms, and while tobacco users do not all 
use alcoholic drinks, they do all of them 
use, in some form or other, such substi- 
tutes for alcoholic drinks as their sense of 
moral propriety and their regard for their 
characters in the public esteem will per- 
mit." 

Surely, after such testimony, it must 
be admitted that the tobacco habit does 
tend directly, and of natural consequence, 
to induce other habits of an injurious 
character, and is therefore condemned by 
the second principle laid down as a test of 
unjustifiable indulgence. 

Sectiox 3. Does the tobacco indul- 
gence transmit to posterity diseased con- 
ditions and perverted tendencies ? 

''Writers who have investigated the 
subject are generally agreed that tobacco 
diminishes virility. There can be no 
doubt that such is its action on persons 
who commence the use of it early in life. 
We hold this to be a conclusive demon- 
stration of the general rule, that the in- 
fluence of tobacco on the human consti- 
tution is hurtful, for an agent which 



■ 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 35 

enervates the procreative power must ex- 
ert a deleterious influence on the progeny. ' ' 
Dr, Henry Gihhins^ p. 17. 

' ' If the evil ended with the individual 
who, by the indulgence of a pernicious 
custom, injures his own health and im- 
pairs his faculties of mind and body, he 
might be left to his own enjoyment, his 
fooV s paradise^ unmolested. This, how- 
ever, is not the case. In no instance is 
the sin of the father more strikingly vis- 
ited upon the childyren than c&iS^in of 
tohacco-smoMng. The enervation, the 
hypochondriasis, the hysteria, the insan- 
ity, the dwarfish deformities, the con- 
sumption, the suffering lives and early 
death of the children of inveterate smok- 
ers, bear ample testimony to the feeble- 
ness and unsoundness of the constitution 
transmitted by this pernicious habit." 

Says Dr. R. T.. Trail (p. 14, '' Tobacco"): 
''The habitual tobacco-user, in his prop- 
agating his kind, will inevitably curse his 
offspring with an organization more or 
less disordered, and a class of vital func- 
tions more or less unbalanced. That pa- 
rent whose blood and secretions are satu- 



36 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

rated witli tobacco, and whose brain and 
nervous system are constantly semi-nar- 
cotized by its influence, must transmit to 
the child so unfortunate as to be born 
unto him, the elements of a distempered 
body and an erratic mind, a deranged 
condition of organic atoms, which invari- 
ably elevates the animalism of the future 
heing^ at the expense of the moral and 
intellectual nature. ' ' 

That diseased conditions and perverted 
tendencies are transmitted by the tobac- 
co habit, from parent to child, is thus es- 
tablished beyond question, and hence the 
indulgence, as such, is passed beyond the 
bar of justification by the third princi- 
ple laid down as a touch-stone of right 
conduct. 

4. Is it so strengthening to selfishness 
as to injure spiritual interests ? 

Mark, the question is not. Is it totally 
desti;uctive of Christian character? but, 
Is it injurious to spiritual interests \ 

Let us first take its expensiveness as an 
index of the truth upon this point, pro- 
ceeding upon the assumption that the 
character of one's stewardship will nee- 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 37 

essarily modify his whole religious char- 
acter. 

In 1852, Great Britain paid, in duties 
alone, upon tobacco, a sum equal to two 
dollars per head for her entire population. 
' 'New York city, ' ' says McGregor, ' 'spends 
more each day for tobacco than for bread ; 
i.e., in the ratio of $10,000 to $8,500." 

The United States and Great Britain 
could support 100,000 ministers of the 
gospel, at average rates, upon what they 
now spend for this single indulgence. 

Many a young man in fashionable life 
pays more for this than for his board-bill. 
Many a mechanic will die, and leave his 
family without a cent, who pays more for 
this than the cost of a life assurance of 
two thousand dollars. 

The American church, says Dr. Coles, 
consumes $5,000,000 in it every year. 

The present annual production of to- 
bacco has been estimated by an English 
writer at 4,000,000,000 pounds! This is 
smoked, chewed, and snuflfed. Suppose 
it all made into cigars, one hundred to 
the pound, it would produce four hundred 
billions. Allowing this tobacco, unmanu- 



38 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

factured, to cost ten cents a pound, and 
we have $400, 000, 000 expended every year. 
At least one and a-half times as much 
more is required to manufacture it into a 
marketable form and dispose of it to the 
consumer. If this be so, then the human 
family expend, every year, one thousand 
millions of dollars in the gratilication of 
an acquired habit, or one dollar for every 
man, woman and child upon the earth ! 

This sum would build two railroads 
around the earth, at a cost of twenty 
thousand dollars per mile, or sixteen rail- 
roads from the Atlantic to the Pacific ! 
It would build one hundred thousand 
churches, costing $10,000 each ; or half a 
million school-houses, costing $2, 000 each; 
or one million dwellings, costing $1,000 
each ! It would employ one million 
preachers and one million teachers, giv- 
ing each a salary of $500. It would sup- 
port three and one-third millions of young 
men at college, giving each $300 per an- 
num for expenses. 

No man, however prejudiced he may 
be in favor of tobacco, can deny that this 
immense waste is a huge sin against God' s 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 39 

mercies, and a terrible blight upon the 
best interests of the race. In so far, 
therefore, as he participates in it, he nec- 
essarily strengthens the selfish propensi- 
ties of his nature, and to a corresponding 
extent damages his spiritual interests. 

But the proof upon this point is not 
merely or mainly inferential. Says a 
sensible writer : 

' ' The question naturally occurs, How 
is it that such a destructive and expen- 
sive indulgence should ever^^^evail ? I 
answer. Its animalizing and sensualizing 
power blots the purity of mental discern- 
ment. But for this, every man with light 
upon the subject would regard it as a 
mighty evil, at war with nature and hu- 
man obligation ; hostile to strict virtue 
and Christian self-denial ; an indulgence 
unworthy the true dignity of man ; a re- 
source for happiness below the standard 
of the brute. 

' ' In this way tobacco tramples on the 
dictates of enlightened reason, vetoes the 
decisions of the judgment, and paralyzes 
the strength of common sense. By satu- 
rating the whole brain with its narcotic 



40 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

oil, its pure norma] action no longer ex- 
ists ; a morbid force is substituted ; and 
the divinelj^-arranged beatitudes of the 
natural senses are prostituted to the 
grossest forms of sensuality. 

" Send the victim of this habit to his 
daily avocation in his workshop, after 
forty-eight hours of suspension of its in- 
dulgence, and he cannot find his tools ; 
or, finding them, does not know how to 
use them. Send him to the counting- 
room^he cannot perform a reckoning ; 
he cannot make out his bills. Mind is so 
benumbed, it cannot act till goaded up 
by artificial forcings. The minister in the 
pulpit and the lawyer at the bar are 
wanting in zeal till quickened by the po- 
tency of tobacco ! If the client get his 
case, or the minister preach with zeal, it 
is not by the native genius of brain, or 
the inspiration of the Spirit of God, but 
by the unhallowed excitement of gratified 
lust!" 

Says Dr. Henry Gibbons (p. 28): ''It 
will not be denied that the appetite for 
tobacco is entirely sensual and animal ; 
that it is associated with the lowest grade 



THE POWER OF GEACE. 41 

of human influences ; that it pertains to 
no endowment which man possesses in 
distinction from tlie beast. Tlierefore, it 
cultivates and strengthens the animal na- 
ture at the expense of the intellectual and 
moral. Its tendency is to degrade the 
higher qualities of our being." 

Tyrrell testifies that it is one of those 
''pleasant vices" which the just gods 
make instruments to scourge us, and that 
it destroys the very principle of manhood. 

An eminent English surgeon^ras^quoted 
by Dr. Gibbons (p. 21), writes: ''^I have 
invariably found that patients addicted 
to tobacco-smoking were in spirit coward- 
ly, and deficient in manly fortitude to 
undergo any surgical operation." 

Says Dr. Solly, of St. Thomas's Hos- 
pital: ''I believe, if the habit of smok- 
ing advances in England as it has done 
for the last ten years, that the English 
character will lose that combination of 
energy and solidity that has hitherto dis- 
tinguished it, and that England will fall 
in the scale of nations." Quoted by Dr. 
Elam, page 121, "A Physician's Prob- 
lems." 



42 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

The philosophy of the matter is thus 
clearly stated by Dr. J. C. Jackson {" To- 
bacco," p. 39) : 

' ' Pathological investigations go to show 
that different poisons show different ef- 
fects upon the nervous system ; that dif- 
ferent portions of the brain are affected 
by different poisons ; and that corres- 
ponding difference in mental and moral 
conditions, under the administrations of 
different poisons, are exhibited. 

'' Alcohol, for instance, in producing 
abnormal conditions of the responsible 
faculties, specifically affects those which 
we describe as intellectual ; while narcot- 
ics — as tobacco, for instance — affect those 
which are usually described as moral fac- 
ulties. Watch closely the changes of 
character through which persons respec- 
tively pass as their vital forces come to 
act on these respective poisons, and it 
will be seen that while alcohol disturbs 
those departments of the brain through 
which the intellectual faculties find mani- 
festion, tobacco affects those portions of 
the brain through which the moral sensi- 
bilities normally express themselves. 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 43 

" Drunkards, unle^^s when in a state of 
decided insensibility or wild delirium, 
retain their moral sense, when compared 
with their loss of judgment, most remark- 
ably. In truth, if but partially intoxi- 
cated, their moral forces seem to be 
quickened and excited, while their rea- 
soning powers are in a great state of per- 
turbation. The tobacco-user, however, 
finds himself in such relations to the use 
of his higher faculties as not to have his 
reason particularly disturbedr^^^^ou see 
men on the street, in their studies, in 
public and private intercourse, who are 
users of tobacco, who show no less intel- 
lectual shrewdness or profundity, where 
the intellect takes cognition of subjects 
that are mainly within the province of 
the reason, than they would if they did not 
use it; but the moment that they pass that 
line, and step into the department of the 
affections or the higher emotions, or pro- 
ceed to the examination of questions which 
for a right decision depend upon large 
spiritual discrimination, they exhibit a 
degree of abnormality indicative of de- 
cided obtuseness or positive aberration." 



44 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

The progress of deterioration is thus 
described, p. 41 : ''From the first day of 
the year to the last he is under immoral 
conditions. The Passional Forces, or 
those that find their point of efficient ac- 
tion at the base of his brain, are upper- 
most in him. The Moral Forces, or those 
which work themselves up into vigor 
through the action of that portion of the 
brain which is mapped out by the coronal 
region, are benumbed, or nearly dead. 
Gxadually the Manly and Divine die out 
of him, steadily the Beastly develops it- 
self in him, till at length those senti- 
ments and affections, impulses and inspi- 
rations, which are well described as the 
Intuitive Forces of his nature, go into the 
shadow, and have no directing poAver in 
the shaping of his life or the exhibitions 
of his conduct. At length, though nat- 
urally endowed with more than ordinary 
intimate relations to the True, the Noble 
and the Good, he becomes intimately as- 
sociated with the False, the Ignoble and 
the Mean, and unless vicarious effort is 
made for him he is a lost man." 

Not many years . ago the Council of 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 45 

Berne, in Switzerland, recognized the 
principle here stated by prohibiting to- 
bacco to all youths under fifteen years of 
age. More recently the French Minister 
of Public Instruction, after classifying the 
pupils of a college into smokers and non- 
sraokers, finding the latter to be the best 
students, and that this was the fact else- 
where, prohibited the use of tobacco in 
all the colleges of France. 

A habit that prodigally wastes large 
sums of money, weakens thedstellect, 
and subordinates the moral nature to the 
sensual, must plead guilty to this last 
count in the indictment against indul- 
gences ; it does strengthen the selfish 
principles of the nature to the detriment 
of the spiritual interests. 

Now, can that Avhich is so obviously 
WROiS^G in the aggregate, be right in the 
individual ? 

We have seen that its use must tend to- 
ward disease by the chemical and physio- 
logical laws brouglit into play ; that it 
leads directly and by natural conseqnence 
to habits of an injurious character ; that 
it transmits diseased conditions to poster- 



46 THE POWER OF GKACE. 

it J, and that it is strengthening to selfish- 
ness and demoralizing to the mind. 
Hence this habit meets the unsparing 
condemnation of all the principles laid 
down on page 10 as prohibiting indulg- 
ence, and therefore can only be justified 
by the individual, if at all, upon the 
ground of some physiological reason that 
transports it at once from the field of 
either preferred or constrained indulgence 
into the region of remedial agency to be 
employed only as scientifically directed. 

Its use, however, is excused by Dr. 
Elam, in "A Physician's Problems," pp. 
122 and 123, after this manner : 

"' On the other hand many men of high 
scientific attainments and sound judg- 
ment consider the use of tobacco in mod- 
eration, and especially under certain cir- 
cumstances of great hardship and priva- 
tion ; as soldiers when in active service, 
for instance, as not only not injurious, 
but beneficial, both hygienically, thera- 
peutically, and psychically ; whilst in 
common with their opponents, they rec- 
ognize freely the very deleterious conse- 
quences attendant upon its abuse mani- 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 47 

fested particularly in various nervous 
lesions which eminently indicate degene- 
ration. It is probable that were society 
in a more natural condition, or one more 
in accordance with the most obvious 
rules of hygiene, no poisonous agent, 
narcotic or stimulant, would be habit- 
ually desirable or allowable. But want 
and misery, unhealthy dwellings and 
occupations, the rapid whirl and con- 
test of life, the wear and tear of hand 
work and brain work ; rivalry^ emula- 
tion, anxiety, and all the corroding 
passions and affections, with the thou- 
sand irregularities that help to form 
the sum of modern existence ; all 
these constitute for society what may 
fairly be called a diseased state, which 
may properly be counteracted by narcot- 
ics in some form. It may be that they 
are producing various forms of ill, but 
we do not know quite certainly what they 
may prevent, nor what strange new ner- 
vous phenomena might be manifested if 
we should attempt to put ' new wine into 
old bottles,' by adopting a rigorously 
simple regimen, freed from all stimulants 



48 THE POVYER OF GRACE. 

and narcotics, to so clearly unnatural a 
mode of life as the mass of men now lead. 

' ' The urgent need which all people ap- 
pear to feel for these agents in some form, 
the craving after and the determination 
to have them at whatever price, seem to 
me to indicate something more than a 
mere moral dereliction and to point out 
some stern necessity in the constitution of 
men or society, which may not be gainsaid. 

''Amid all the evils, too, which arise 
from the abuse of alcoholic liquids and 
tobacco, and they are proteiform, we are 
not without grounds of consolation. Per- 
haps there are few nations of Europe 
where certain classes of the population 
drink more habitually, and smoke more 
constantly than in England ; yet the rate 
of mortality is lower in England than in 
any other European nation, although it 
is to be feared that this rate is slowly in- 
creasing ; but mass for mass, or man for 
man, it is readily acknowledged that no 
people can compete with our own, 
whether for energy, or endurance, or 
bodily labor." 

Here are five arguments, the first of 



THE POWER OF GBACE. 49 

which, based upon the opinions of some 
scientific men, is more than answered by 
recalling the fact that the great majority 
of such men hold opinions directly the 
reverse of that expressed by Dr. Elam. 

The second argument from the diseased 
condition of society iinds a sufficient an- 
swer in this : Many who have deemed 
themselves under the strongest necessity 
to use it, have, under christian influences, 
discontinued its use, and always with de- 
cided advantage to healthy no matter how 
imperative, or long continued the habit 
may have been ; hence the doctor' s hypo- 
thesis concerning the remedy needed is 
opposed hjfacts^ and becomes void. 

The third argument from the almost 
universal craving of the people for narco- 
tics is not sound ; for the premise may be 
admitted while the conclusion not only 
does not, but ought not to follow. 

The craving indicates diseased con- 
ditions, like the hunger of dyspeptic 
stomachs, and the only ''constitutional 
necessity" in the case, is the necessity 
for restorative treatment , which certainly 
does not consist in pampering the disease. 



50 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

The fourtli argument, from the habits 
of certain classes of the English people, 
is given a broader application than facts 
will justify, for England's enterprise and 
low deatli-rate are not dependent upon 
those particular classes. Those classes 
exhibit precisely the opposite state of 
facts, while her favorable climate, the 
comparative freedom of the masses of the 
population from worse vices, the skill of 
her physicians, and other circumstances, 
such as the diffusion of intelligence, etc. 
sufficiently account for the low rate of 
mortality and the abounding energy of 
the people. 

In the fifth argument the goocj doctor' s 
attempt to neutralize the damaging force 
of the ill effects of the tobacco habit, by 
the assumption that we ''do not know 
what they may prevent" is simply ridic- 
ulous. Suppose the same argument were 
used in support of gambling ; we do not 
know but it may prevent highway rob- 
bery, therefore the ''rigorous regimen" 
of honesty should not be applied in this 
direction. Would this be satisfactory ? 
Yet the argument is just as good in one 



I 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 51 

case as in the other. We conclude, there- 
fore, that this attempt to jnstify the habit 
is an utter failnre. 

If, then, it onght to be abandoned, the 
question, Hoio f becomes one of vital im- 
portance. 

The difficulty of the undertaking few 
can realize before making the effort. 

Says Dr. Jackson (''Tobacco," p. 7) : 
^ ' Just to the degree that a vice has for its 
existence no other justification than the 
indulgence of mere animal propensity, 
and is therefore beyond the pale of rea- 
son, is it difficult to reach and overthrow 
it, provided always that it has secured to 
itself such general assent as to place be- 
fore it for its protection the social forces, 
and to make it fashionable. I know this 
was true in my own case when trying to 
abandon the use of tobacco." 

How then shall the foe be throttled ? 
Dr. Trail answers (''Prize Essay, To- 
bacco," p. 21): "Let the man resume, 
for the occasion, his whole manhood, and, 
following the memorable example of one 
who deserved to be free and independent 
in relation to another form of slavery, de- 



52 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

clare, ' Live or die, survive or perish, I 
am for no more tobacco,' and he will al- 
most surely triumph. The struggle may- 
be terrible, but it will be brief. He may 
feel like death, but he will not die. In a 
week or two the severest ordeal may be 
passed ; and, in a month or two, the mor- 
bid love may be changed to a healthful 
hate. The sufferer must determine to be 
free indeed, with full and unreserved pur- 
pose of soul ; nor must he seek substitutes 
of any kind." 

Dr. Joel Shaw answers (''Tobacco," p. 
113) : ''Put the foot of moral determi- 
nation upon the head of the serpent Pas- 
sion, and cast him out forever from you, 
and in a few days your triumph will be 
achieved." 

All this is doubtless good, but Dr. 
Jackson reveals a better way, and both 
for warning and encouragement w^e quote 
a portion of his experience, pp. 14 to 16 : 

' ' After having been married some few 
weeks I was rudely awakened from my 
silly and foolish dream-life to a con- 
sciousness that no slave was ever more 
thoroughly fettered than I was. My 



THE POWER OF GEACE. 53 

wife said to me, ' I wish yon conld iind 
it compatible with your ideas of pro- 
priety to give up the use of tobacco. 
Your breath is offensive to me.' In- 
stanter I said, ' I will give it up. Noth- 
ing will afford me greater delight than to 
yield to your request. I will never use 
any more of it.' So I entered upon my 
renunciation, and in twenty -four hours 
was as thoroughly conscious of my en- 
slavement as any one could be. Oh, how 
my nervous system suffered from^ihe want 
of its daily draught of poison. The most 
violent headache and blindness, equal to 
that which was induced when I first in- 
dulged in the use of tobacco, came upon 
me, and such complete prostration of my 
physical powers, and depression of mind, 
with peturbation of spirit, I hope never 
during my mortal life to be called upon 
again to endure. My blood played 
through my veins as if it were in a sea- 
surge. I saw all invisible things that 
were ugly and demon-like, — devils in the 
shape of old women, haggish and witch- 
like, danced around me. For the first 
time in my life I became sensible of the 



54 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

enslamng power of appetite. No force 
of will, or vigor of conscience were com- 
petent to my deliverance. My love for 
my wife, which usually absorbed all my 
self, faded away into nothingness. I saw 
nothing, thought of nothing, felt nothing 
but the overpowering desire for my to- 
bacco. My moral sense became inert, 
and like a dog to his vomit, or a sow to 
her wallowing in the mire, I laid my man- 
hood down, and for the time being was 
transformed into a beast. When, how- 
ever, I had re-induced the habitual con- 
ditions of the nervous system by a return 
to my chewing and smoking, then came 
up more vividly than ever my loss of self- 
respect. A young and newly married 
man, I saw that ' to will was present 
with me, but how to do good I found 
not.' A Christian by profession, I felt 
ashamed, and resolved to break the appe- 
tite. For the better part of three months 
I repeatedly made efforts for my deliver- 
ance, and each time fell into deeper dis- 
grace than before. Ultimately my nature 
became so thoroughly demoralized by 
vain attempts to recover its dignity and 



I 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 55 

poise, that the baser and meaner elements 
in it were uppermost, and, for a time, 
there are no words in the English lan- 
guage which so decidedly describe the 
impression I had of myself, as when I 
say that I had become a thorough Sneak. 
Out of this deep of degradation I found 
no earthly hand to lift me. My wife I 
could not appeal to ; for my very impo- 
tency had become my infamy. So there 
was no help in that direction. No friends 
came to my aid. Everybody arou^nd me 
was using tobacco. At length — and I 
scarcely know how it came to j^ass — I be- 
thought me of the Saviour. I remem- 
bered what the apostle James said, 'If 
any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, 
who giveth to every man liberally, and 
upbraideth not.' I was about to leave 
home on a journey. Beseeching the Sav- 
iour to help me recover my lost character, 
I went out in the darkness. I knew the 
nature of the conflict, and scarcely be- 
lieved that I should succeed ; but there 
came to me angels that strengthened me ; 
and from that hour to this, the poison 
has not passed my lips. For four 



56 THE POWEE OF GRACE. 

months, however, I was in a wild and 
dreamy haze, staggering through mist 
and darkness ; a dozen times a day 
tempted and well nigh overborne, but 
conquering for the hour and struggling 
on." 

But we proclaim a better way thak 
THAT ! — a w^ay by which even the unfortu- 
nate subject of the following sketch might 
have been saved. Again we quote from 
''Tobacco and Its Effects," by Dr. J. C. 
Jackson : 

''Early in my professional practice, I 
was visited by a clergyman who wished 
to place himself under my care, with a 
view to be relieved of diseases with which 
he was afflicted ; and, upon examination 
of his case, I said to him that I thought 
he could not be cured — that his nervous 
system had become so deranged by infil- 
tration of some poison into his blood that 
I feared his constitutional power to react 
under its disuse would fail him. ^^^ ^ -^ -^^ 
When he came to consult me he was 
about fifty years of age. He first became 
alarmed in regard to its effect upon him, 
after having had an interview with a 



THE POWER OF GBACE. 57 

brother clergyman, in respect to the pro- 
priety of organizing a simultaneous move- 
ment on the part of all the clergymen in 
the city where he resided by preaching 
against the use of tobacco. When re- 
quested by his clerical brother to unite 
in such a movement, he distinctly de- 
clined. When asked why, his reply was, 
that he did not believe in preaching 
against sin of which he himself was guilty. 
When still farther questioned why he did 
not abandon the sin, his answer^w^s that 
he was unable to do it. When his broth- 
er almost indignantly inquired if he, a 
Christian minister, felt himself at liberty 
to say that he was guilty of a sin of 
which he could not repent, he replied in 
the affirmative. To show his inability, he 
then related the following circumstance : 

"For a month previous to this inter- 
view, his mind had been greatly impressed 
with his sin and his shame in this matter 
of the use of tobacco, and he had sought 
privately to abandon it. On the Sabbath 
preceding the visit of his clerical friend 
he had determined to enter the pulpit 
free from his usual indulgence. On aris- 



58 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

ing to open the churcli services he fonnd 
himself blind, and his organs of articula- 
tion paralyzed so that he could not utter 
a word. He came very near falling down 
in a fit. Some of the members of his con- 
gregation, seeing that he was sick, took 
him home, services being dispensed with, 
and a physician immediately attended 
him. Asking all the persons who were 
around him to leave him alone with the 
physician, who was scarcely less fright- 
ened than they, he said to him, 'My 
friend, you need not be at all troubled. 
Just hand me my tobacco-box that lies 
in the pigeon-hole in my book case, and I 
shall be all right in two minutes. This is 
simply a reaction of my nervous system 
consequent upon abstinence from my 
usual indulgences.' 

" The physician gave him his tobacco ; 
he took a chew, and was in fifteen minutes 
as well as he ever was — so well, that in 
the afternoon the services were continued. 
The feeling of mortification that came 
over him when he found that his whole 
intellectual and moral nature was enslaved 
by a physical habit, he told me he had no 



■ 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 59 

language to describe ; and then and there 
he made me promise as a physician, and 
as a Christian gentleman, pledge myself 
to be faithful, in season and out of season, 
in my rebukes and reproofs of the use of 
tobacco — saying, that though he had him- 
self become the victim of it, and for many 
years during his use of it had had no idea 
that he was doing wrong thereby, within 
the last month he had felt that there was 
no evil in our entire land, not excepting 
that of the habitual use of intoxicating 
liquors, so much to be deplored and so 
thoroughly to be dreaded in its effects 
upon our youth as the habit of chewing 
and smoking tobacco. 

^'A few weeks after this interview he 
died. A post mortem examination was 
held. No evidences of diseased structure 
were exhibited in any of the internal or- 
gans except the heart. When the opera- 
tors reached the heart and took it out, 
they found it nearly disorganized. The 
tenacious coherence of its fibres had en- 
tirely disappeared, and one of the phy- 
sicians present at the examination wrote 
me that it could be ' picked to pieces 



60 THE POWER OF GKACE. 

with as mucli ease as a piece of fried 
liver.'" 

IxSTA]N^TA]SrEOUS EXTIEPATION, by the 

power of grace^ in answer to prayer, is 

the BEST WAY ! ! 

But, is it possible ? Let testimony de- 
cide. 

In ''The Christian Advocate and Jour- 
nal" of July 31, 1873, the Author pub- 
lished a series of questions, the third one 
of which read as follows : 

''Can men be instantaneously deliv- 
ered from the power of acquired habits, 
such as the use of tobacco, rum, etc., so 
that they shall thereafter have no craving 
for the indulgence f 

The first reply that we insert is from an 
esteemed minister, widely known in ofll- 
cial relations other than professional : 

' ' I have been an habitual smoker of to- 
bacco for more than thirty years. There 
have been brief periods during which I 
abstained from its use ; but the power of 
the habit was so great, that I yielded to 
the craving of my appetite, and in each 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 61 

instance became a more inveterate smoker 
than before. During the last three or 
four years, I have had many troublesome 
thoughts in regard to the practice, for I 
was trying to be wholly the Lord' s. 

''A little more than three months ago, 
I deliberately laid my pipe aside, after 
enjoying an evening's smoke, with a clear 
and well-defined conviction that it was the 
last time that I should thus indulge a 
habit that had become absolutely tyran- 
nical. I made no promise, asdtiad done 
on previous occasions ; but I felt, through 
my whole moral and religious self, that 
the decision had been reached. For a 
moment I felt almost a terror as I remem- 
bered former times of attempted reform, 
and the ghosts of broken promises came 
trooping before my mental vision. But I 
trusted in the Lord, and not one word of 
his precious promises has failed me. 
Once, after the lapse of a fortnight, the 
simple thought, 'I'd like to smoke,' 
came to my mind ; but no sooner was it 
formed than it disappeared. I have had 
no craving, no uneasiness, no desire. I 
simply wonder at the folly that ruled me 



62 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

SO long, and praise God for a victory as 
complete as instantaneous." 

As some time has elapsed since the 
above was written, further information 
was asked and received, in the following 
notes : 

October 16, 1873. 
Rev. Bro. : — Be so kind as to inform me 
whether longer time has made any new 
developments in your experience of absti- 
nence from tobacco, and oblige, 

Yours Fraternally, 

S. H. Platt. 

REPLY. 

October 17, 1873. 
Dear Bro. : — It gives me much pleasure 
to say that, tJirough grace^ I can empha- 
size all I said before. I know of no lan- 
guage too strong to express either the 
completeness of the victory or the ex- 
tent of my gratitude to God for so signal 
a blessing. Yours Fraternally, 



Still later, in answer to further inqui- 
ries, comes the following note : 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 63 

Rev. S. H. Platt. Dear Brother: — A 
little more than a year has elapsed since I 
left off the use of tobacco — an account of 
which I gave yon, perhaps seven months 
ago. This further time has more fully 
developed the thoroughness of the cure 
then spoken of, and the completeness of 
the victor}^ over an evil habit. I am filled 
with wonder, for I expected a terrible 
fight with an appetite strengthened by an 
indulgence of about thirty-five years ; but 
the enemy has not showed his^eEd>^ Not 
only has the desire for smoking been ef- 
fectually squelched, but a perfect hatred 
of smoking has been developed, on ac- 
count of the offensiveness of the odor of 
tobacco. I frequently cross a street, or 
change my seat in a car, to escape the 
puff of smoke, or the foetid breath of a 
smoker. Yet I have no hard words for 
my brethren who are enslaved. My great 
deliverance has mellowed my entire soul, 
and I can sympathize deeply with those 
who are in bondage. ' ' Thanks be unto 
God, who giveth us the victory." 
Yours Fraternally, 



64 THE POWER OF GBACE. 

The next is from a lady thus vouched 
for by the editor of ''The Home Altar," 
to whom we are indebted for the experi- 
ence : ''She is one of my patrons — a 
woman who has power with God in 
prayer." 

"When quite young I was advised to 
use tobacco for my eyes. The prescrip- 
tion was made an excuse for the practice. 
After my conversion I was enabled to see 
the inconsistency of such useless habits 
with gospel requirements. I would some- 
times lay it aside, thinking never to touch 
it again, but, true to nature, would soon 
resume its use. 

' ' In the course of my ' steppings heaven- 
ward ,' the necessity of holiness of heart 
and life were made plain to me, princi- 
pally through the medium of Mrs. 
Palmer' s works. 

"While meditating upon the subject 
and counting the cost, this same habit was 
brought under consideration. I knew 
how much I loved the narcotic weed ; it 
rested me when weary, soothed me when 
sad or in trouble. Having read my Bible 
much, I could at once turn to any portion 



THE POWER OE GRACE. 65 

that I thought might have any bearing 
upon the point in question. 

''The most careful and prayerful re- 
search only left it for conscience to de- 
cide. In my consecration I rested the 
matter thus : ' O Lord, if at any future 
time I am made to see this habit con- 
trary to thy will^ relying upon thy 
strength I will give it up.^ The Spirit 
at once assured my heart that was suf- 
ficient. Some eight months after I had 
received the blessing of perfect Jove, 
while pleading that one dear to me 
might be strengthened to give up intoxi- 
cating drinks, the question, with much 
force, was presented : ' Is it consistent 
to plead thus, while you are guilty of a 
practice equally useless ? ' I tried to think 
it Satanic influence seeking to ensnare me, 
but it was impossible to evade the mat- 
ter ; I had to honestly face it, and in lov- 
ing obedience, the idol was placed upon 
the altar of sacrifice. From that moment 
the appetite was gone ; when friends 
would insist that I should use it, a feel- 
ing of aversion for the habit would arise 
in my heart. 



66 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

' ' In after life, having lost the direct 
witness, or that sacred nearness to Jesns, 
when the gentle insinuation was made 
that tobacco might help my failing sight, 
my mind consented^ and immediately my 
love for its use returned. 

' ' After indulging the habit for some 
months, my conscience smote me, and 
thinking to lay it aside, I found that willj 
resolittions and vows were all inadequate 
to oust the enemy ; its strength was 
doubled. Never before did I have one 
feeling of pity or sympathy for noble, 
godlike manhood bound hand and foot 
by the demon fetters of intemperance. I 
learned from experience there was but 
one way of deliverance. I went to my 
closet and with strong crying and tears, 
and many prayers, told Jesus. I asked 
him to remove the appetite. The gracious 
answer came immediately." 

The following is from a minister in the 

West : 

Rev. S. H. Platt. Dear Sir: — Yours 
of Sept. 18 remains unanswered. I will 
now reply. As respects question 3d : A 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 67 

physician of extended practice was con- 
verted or reclaimed while I had charge of 
the place in which he lived. He had ac- 
quired the habit of using large quantities 
of whisky and brandy, together with to- 
bacco, and withal more or less given to 
licentiousness. Since that time he has 
been steadily advancing in morals and 
moral power, till he now preaches the gos- 
pel as a local preacher, side by side with 
the best of the district. ''Was it instan- 
taneous ?" Yes, as respects tobacco ; he 
became convicted of its sinfulness by a 
voice saying, ''That is not the way to 
glorify God. Stop, and stop now !" And 
from that moment, he says, he has never 
used it, neither does he in any way like 
the smell, or even the sight of tobacco. 

As to myself, I had used it from child- 
hood, and the love and use thereof grew 
upon me. I became convicted of its sin- 
fulness, went to God and said, " Destroy 
the appetite, or give me power over it. 
Save me, that I may glorify Thee as a God 
of power for our present sins, and I will 
glorify Thee evermore." I wrote out the 
contract, and signed it, and from that 



68 THE POWER OF GKACE. 

blessed afternoon until to-day, have no 
recollection of ever desiring it even ; and, 
what is still more convincing, is this qual- 
ifying fact, that when I have taken back 
the consecration through other avenues, 
as by neglect of other duties, coldness, or 
a departure from God, which I recall only 
a few times during my christian experi- 
ence, there came with them the old desire 
for tobacco — it tasted good. With the 
light of returning day came the power 
that silenced the demand. 



Here follows one from a private chris- 
tian in Vermont : 

"Soon after my conversion I was chosen 
President of the Young People's Chris- 
tian Association, and attended three re- 
ligious meetings every week ; so you see 
that tobacco was a great trouble to me ; 
and I had tried a number of times to 
leave it oflf, but could not do so. 

' ' One night as I was retiring to rest I 
thought I would kneel by my bed and 
ask Him who never refuses to answer 
prayer, to take from me the desire for to- 



THE POWER OF GEACE. 69 

bacco, and from that moment it lias been 
impossible for me to use it." 

An editor in Tennessee writes thus : 

September 25, 1873. 
Dear Sir : — In response to your call for 
testimony in reference to the ability to 
break off from the habit of using tobacco, 
in answer to prayer, I will say that I 
smoked tobacco excessively for fifteen 
years, commencing when I was about 
twenty years old, having usedjJLinore or 
less for several years previously. I ever 
found that the use of it was injurious to 
both my nervous system and my religious 
enjoyments. I cannot say that at that 
time I felt under condemnation in the use 
of it, as I would now, with the increase 
of spiritual light and life I now enjoy 
over and above what I did then ; but the 
luxury of it always affected my religious 
enjoyments, and I often strove to break 
off from the use of it ; indeed I deter- 
mined time and again to desist from it, 
sometimes abstaining for a few months or 
weeks, once for twelve months ; hut the 
desire for it never left me^ and whenever 



70 THE POWEE OF GRACE. 

I tasted it I was sure to take to it again. 
I sometimes vowed while upon my knees 
in prayer, to abstain from it and never 
toucli it again, but I always attempted to 
do this in my own strength — hence I 
failed, being overcome by the almost ir- 
resistible influence it had upon my appe- 
tite so long cultivated to the use. This 
marked the period of nearly fifteen years 
of my using it. 

One Sunday morning, the first day of 
December, 1850, I retii'ed to a secluded 
place, got down upon my knees and 
asked the Lord to help me quit it, deter- 
mining then and there that I would, God 
being my helper, never touch the ac- 
cursed thing again by any kind of use in 
the way of consumption, and from that 
day to this I have never had any desire 
to smoke or chew tobacco or to use it in 
any way ; but I did this whenever I saw 
tobacco ; I lifted my heart to God implor- 
ing his assistance in abstaining from it, I 
have now been clear of the desire of it 
for nearly twenty-three years. 

Very respectfully, 



I 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 71 

A prominent business man in an inland 
city testifies : 

'" I used tobacco and it used to prevent 
me some times from getting a blessing, 
and I would fear that I yet would miss 
of heaven. I would weep, pray, and 
fast, but, as I thought, to no purpose ; but 
God, who was leading me, knew better. 
That was the way my will had to be sub- 
dued, and my blessed Jesus knew how 
to do it. I often tried to abstain from 
tobacco, but as often failedpuritil God 
showed plainly that it was sin to use 
it because it was undermining my 
constitution. I murmured because my 
brethren could use it ; why not I ? — but 
that was nothing to me. 'Follow thou 
me ' was the response, until I found if I 
would be the Lord's I must give it up 
with the rest of my idols ; I concluded 
to do so ; I loved my pipe as dearly as 
any one, but I laid it on the shelf and bid 
it farewell. I would use it no more. 
Turning to the Lord for strength to en- 
able me to overcome, and to remove the 
appetite, I knew he could, but my faith 
was not strong enough to believe fully ; 



72 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

but I gave it up. Tliiitj^-tliree years iu 
forming the appetite, it was no easy mat- 
ter ; but to my surprise, as soon as I 
fully determined to give it up, all desire 
for it was gone. It was no hardship as I 
supposed it would be to overcome. How 
sweetly Jesus took the desire for it away. 
To Jesus be all the glory." 

Xow comes the story of a good old 
lady seventy-five years of age, written in 
her own quaint style, and rejoicing in a 
freedom of more than half a century : 

''My mother used tobacco, had some 
trouble to get all she wanted. When I 
was a little child I practiced smoking 
secretly ; when I was fourteen I experi- 
enced religion and thought I had ought 
to leave it, but did not. The next year 
or two after, sister Mary talked so good 
to me, I promised to the Lord in secret I 
would not smoke for a month. I kept 
my promise and did not smoke for a 
year and a half, then I tasted it again 
and wanted it as bad or worse than ever ; 
then I indulged myself with it one and a 
half year, believing I could make a 



THE POWEK OF GRACE. 73 

promise and be rid of it forever ; so I 
made a secret promise to God, strong as I 
could. Like IN'eliemiali, I shook my lap 
and said, ' So let God shake me out of his 
favor if I do not keep this promise.' I 
did not keep it one day, and I don't 
know as I could ,v then I despaired till 
my brother said my sin was not unpar- 
donable ; then I wept seven days and 
seven nights. Like David, I made my 
bed to swim with tears because I was 
bound to that filthy, shamefutrfeabit. I 
was then twenty-one, thought I could 
appear well enough if it was not for that. 
After this I prayed, and God showed me 
that my heart was full of pride ; then I 
had three weeks of painful seeking and 
striving to draw near to God ; he made 
me smoke no more secretly ; I must not 
be hypocritical. Then this good sister 
Mary and another brother did bear hard 
on me that I should leave it, or that I 
should break up the habit. I told them 
the whole, and said I could not, which 
made them harder yet toward me. I read 
to them the nineteenth chapter of Job, 
then I said, 'Let thy kingdom, blessed 



74 THE POWER OF OEACE. 

saviour, come and bid our jarring cease.' 
That instant it came in my mind that 
Jesus could take away all that wanting 
to smoke. I prayed that he might, and 
clapped my hands and said he would ! 
Then they both thought they had been too 
hard with me. If they had said ' Hold on, 
you will get the victory,' I should never 
have wanted it again. Instead of that, 
Mary told me I might smoke, and I did 
not wait to know if it was gone. Then I 
wondered how I could ask, believing, 
and it not be done. A while after, I ob- 
tained the blessing of perfect love. The 
next sacrament, I asked that it might 
never defile my mouth again nor hinder 
my thoughts from serving Grod. From 
that time I have had no desire for it, and 
the smell of it is very disagreeable. This 
was at a quarterly meeting at Vermont, 
in 1821, January." 

We now introduce a double cure which 
is thus narrated : 

I^ov. 20, 1873. 

In answer to a card I saw in the 
'' Methodist Home Journal," dated Aug. 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 75 

16th, I will give you my experience in 
regard to acquired habits such as tobacco 
and rum. I am now forty- two years old ; 
at the age of twelve years I commenced 
to use tobacco and continued to use it 
both smoking and chewing, till five years 
ago, when, in answer to prayer the appe- 
tite was instantly removed. The circum- 
stances were as follows : I had tried many 
times to leave off the use of tobacco but 
the appetite was so strong that I could 
not withstand it. At one time=i.left it 
off for a month but not a day passed but 
I craved it, and when I did begin again it 
tasted as good as ever. I found the to- 
bacco was injuring my health. My ner- 
vous system was very much deranged. 
For more than a year before I left it off 
there was scarcely a night but I lay for 
two or three hours before I could go to 
sleep. I resolved a great many times I 
would leave it off, but always failed. I 
had also acquired the habit of drinking 
and become a confirmed drunkard. I 
knew the habits were killing me, but I 
was powerless to stop. One evening a 
prayer meeting was appointed at niy 



76 THE POWER or GRACE. 

house ; the minister (Elder Heath) in his 
remarks spoke about habits, and said 
that religion would cure all bad habits, 
such as tobacco, etc., and that by prayer 
God would remove evil appetites. I 
thought but little about it that night ; 
was very careless and trifling about it. 
The next morning I took out my tobacco 
to take a chew, and thought of what the 
minister had said the night before. It 
was a new idea to me. I put the tobacco 
in m}^ pocket again and said, I'll try it. 
I was alone in my barn ; I kneeled down 
and asked God to remove the appetite 
from me. It was done. Glory to God ! 
I was cured, I felt it, I knew it then, I 
have never had a desire for it since. 
There has been no hankering for it or for 
strong drink since. My sins were all for- 
given and I was made a new man all over 
inside and outside. When I go into 
company where they are smoking I have 
no desire for it at all, neither have I 
for drinking, any more than if I had 
never had those habits. My nervous dif- 
ficulty was instantly cnred. No more 
trouble about sleeping, and I know that 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 77 

Jesus can heal and remove and destroy 
all evil habits. 

Another says : ' ' I was a rnm drinker 
when I gave my heart to Jesus, and when 
he gave me the evidence of my sins for- 
given, away went the desire for rum. I 
was a tobacco-chewer and smoker and 
had been for thirty-five years. About 
two months after my conversion, it 
seemed as if this tobacco was to me a 
cherished habit, and I was thinking as 
Jesus had been so good to me to forgive 
me of all the past, what was I willing to 
give up for him in return, and the sug- 
gestion came to me, are you willing to 
give up the use of tobacco, either chew- 
ing or smoking, and I was enabled to 
answer yes, and then and there I was de- 
livered from the desire or further craving 
for the indulgence, and so Jesus has kept 
me for about two years, and so I find him 
able to keep all we commit unto him." 

The following is from an aged son of 
toil whose personal worth gives special 
emphasis to his words : 



78 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

October, 1873. 
Brother Piatt : — You have called on me 
for a statement of my experience on to- 
bacco. I smoked and chewed tobacco 
from a boj nntil thirty- eight years old, 
and also used intoxicating drinks the 
same length of time until both became 
strong habits. I was convinced it was. a 
sin. My children were growing up around 
me, and I felt it wrong to set such ex- 
amples. I promised to leave them off, 
but I felt my weakness, and called on 
my Heavenly Father, and told Him the 
work was too great for me, and prayed 
that he would do the work for me, and 
take away the taste or appetite. This 
was between 11 and 12 o'clock in the day 
time in the shop where I worked. I went 
home, ate my dinner, and laid my tobacco 
box on the shelf. My wife called to me 
to take my box, thinking that I had for- 
gotten it. I said 'Let it be there, ' and went 
out, trusting in the Lord. He heard my 
prayer. I never have had a taste or de- 
sire for a glass of intoxicating drink or a 
smoke or chew of tobacco from that time 
until the present moment, which is nine- 



THE POWER OF GKACE. 79 

teen years the seventh, of last February. 
Oh, I feel to thank God to-night while I 
pen this truth for the first time, for so 
great a deliverance ! I feel I would do 
anything, deny myself of anything by 
the help of my God, for such a great de- 
liverance for his children ! 



Here follows a sailor's experience : 

October 27, 1873. 

Dear Sir : — My testimony iB^his, that 
God saves me, and keeps me clean. I 
had used tobacco from the time of twelve 
years until I was forty-five years of age, 
and most of the time for thirty years, 
two pounds a week smoked and chewed. 
I was a sailor for thirty years, twenty-five 
years a member of a church. In 1870 I 
commenced to stop using tobacco, but 
could not. I then went to God in the 
middle of the street, the pipe burning in 
my mouth, and, blessed be His name, He 
delivered me. The appetite was totally 
lost, at once ? 

Yours respectfully. 



80 THE POWEE OF GRACE. 

Another sailor, noAv a member of the 
N. Y. E. Conference, thus writes : 

November 27, 1873. 

Dear Bro. Piatt : — On Friday evening, 
Feb. 23, 1866, abont 8 o'clock, I knelt at 
the altar rail in the lecture-room of the 
Alanson M. E. Church, Norfolk street, 
New York, sick of sin^ a seeker of de- 
liverance from the power and condemna- 
tion of the same. I was, at the time, a 
confirmed smoker, using the pipe when at 
sea to such an extent that it was a com- 
mon occurrence for me to turn into my 
bunk with my pipe in my mouth. It was 
my inseparable companion during my 
night watches. When I gave up the sea, 
the desire for tobacco increased ; it was 
growing with my growth, and strength- 
ening with my strength. It was one of 
my idols. It is also worthy of remark 
that I had no conmction^ either before or 
while at the altar, on the subject of tobac- 
co — I had not looked upon it as a sin ; 
but my consecration at that altar meant 
this, ''I agree, from this time forth and 
forever^ in the strength grace alone can 



J 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 81 

supply, to renounce all manner of evil, to 
do, as far as in me lies, all manner of good; 
and being ignorant, and yet willing to be 
taught, I agreed to walk according to the 
light I had, was about to, and might ever 
after receive ; and while thus kneeling, 
with such a consecration, I passed from 
death unto life. I became indeed a new 
creature in Christ Jesus. O the joy ! O 
the peace ! the loathing of sin and all 
uncleanness. After meeting was closed 
I returned home. My family iaiall re- 
tired. The first object that caught my 
attention was my pipe. From mere force 
of habit, mechanically I took it down and 
attempted to smoke. I was sitting, med- 
itating upon the strange and blissful ex- 
periences of the evening, when, lo ! the 
appetite was gois^e ! Indeed, the pipe was 
positively distasteful to me. During the 
first week I made several attempts to 
smoke (intending, wheii my tobacco was 
used up to give up its use) ; every time 
the operation was distasteful ; every time 
it brought condemnation. From that 
time to this I have neither used nor crav- 
ed tobacco, and it requires about all the 



82 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

grace I can command to concede christian 
consistency to that man who acquires the 
habit after his conversion, or who persists 
in its continuance after he has acknow- 
ledged that the habit is one to be deplor- 
ed, pernicious in its effects on the body 
always — too often on the soul. Of course 
the fact that Grod took away the appetite 
was sufficient reason to me not to resume 
its use ; but there were other reasons 
which presented themselves to my mind 
at the time which were not without their 
influence. First, tobacco is not negative 
in its effects ; it is either positive for good 
or evil. My experience attested to the 
latter. ' ' Know ye not that ye are the 
temple of God, and that the spirit of God 
dwelleth in you ? If any man deflle the 
temple of God, him will God destroy." 
Second, I was a poor man, and would be 
robbing the cause of Christ of just so 
much money that might be used to fur- 
ther the benevolent enterprises of the 
Church. Third, I would be robbing my 
family by taking money that might be 
applied for their comfort, to pamper a de- 
praved appetite. Also, as a Sabbath- 



THE POWEE OF GRACE. 83 

school teacher, and an altar-worker in 
prayer-meetings, my influence for good 
would be marred just in proportion as I 
was not unlike the world. I have no crav- 
ing for tobacco whatever. 

Fraternally, 



We conclude this Section by quoting 
from Rev. W. H. Boole's Tract : " Won- 
ders of Gfrace," pp. 6-9, 1st ed. : 

' ' I propose to relate a f ew^oFTiie nu- 
merous examples -known to the writer, 
which have occurred under his personal 
observation, bearing directly upon this im- 
portant point, and which demonstrate the 
power of divine grace in destroying sinful 
habits and appetites. 

' ' A — C — has been for thirty years a 
member of the M. E. Church ; for the 
greater part of this time a leader and trus- 
tee in a New York Church. His profes- 
sion was always marked by correctness of 
deportment and generous zeal, whilst his 
cheerful manners won the esteem of all. 
But he had been addicted to the constant 
use of tobacco for forty years, until its 



84 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

daily use had become seemingly necessary 
to health, if not to life. He had made 
many efforts to rid himself of the doubt- 
ful practice, but always failed because of 
the inward gnawing which its long-contin- 
ued use had created, and which forced 
him to begin the practice again. At last, 
on a certain occasion, in the presence of 
the writer, he said, 'I have long been 
seeking a deeper work of grace : tobacco 
appears to hinder me ; but I had not sup- 
posed it possible to be saved from the 
dreadful power of this habit until now. 
Never before have I trusted Jesus to save 
me from the appetite as well as the use of 
it, but now I do ;' and, suiting the action 
to the word, he threw far away from him 
the tobacco he held in his hand. He still 
lives, and for several years has reiterated 
this testimony : ' From that hour all de- 
sire left me, and I have ever since hated 
what I once so fondly loved.' 

is a prominent member of the 

M. E. Church in the city of Brooklyn, 
N. Y. For thirty-five years he has served 
the church, giving liberally of his abun- 
dant means, and generally ready for 



THE POWER OF ORACE. 85 

every good word and work. From the 
age of ten he had used tobacco, until the 
habit had become so deeply rooted he 
could not endure to be without a cigar in 
his mouth, frequently rising in the night 
to " have a good smoke." During the 
thirty years of this manner of life, he 
often felt the bondage of the habit, and 
resolved against it, but his resolutions 
invariably failed him. About three years 
since, he became deeply interested in the 
subject of full salvation, andH5§gan dili- 
gently seeking for its possession. While 
pondering what might be the difficulties 
in his way, he saw that this very slavish 
habit was a bar to his advancement ; but 
so earnest was he for the prize of a clean 
heart, that he felt altogether willing to 
yield up the indulgence, if it were possi- 
ble. But was it \ He had fought against 
the passion long and well, yet not once 
had he conquered. Who would deliver 
him from the body of this death % It was 
a new idea to him that Jesus saves from 
the appetite and lust of sin as well as from 
the act ; that he gives grace not only to 
strive against, biit to destro}^ the power of 



86 THE POWEE OF GEACE. 

habit. But no sooner did lie apprehend 
this gospel-trnth, and read his privilege 
in the wonderful promise which stands at 
the head of this article, than he, all alone, 
one evening, cast himself on Jesus' word, 
and trusted him to do it for him. 'Twas 
done. Not an hour longer did the desire 
remain ; and his uniform testimony has 
ever since been : ' 'Tis strange to me that 
I ever loved the filthy practice.' 

' ' These are not exceptional cases. They 
do not belong exclusively to men of 
' peculiar temperament.' More than a 
score of examples equally interesting as 
those cited I have witnessed in one year, 
all occurring in the same community. 
H^OY were these confined to Christians in- 
quiring for the higher life of the full as- 
surance of faith. Converts of a day have 
renounced the use of tobacco, trusting in 
Jesus for immediate salvation from the 
baneful craving, and received according 
to their faith." 

SECTIo:^^ 2. — The Opiate Habit. 

This is so universally admitted to be 
wrong, that we will not occupy space in 



THE POWER OF OEACE. 87 

discussing the propriety of its indnlgence. 
We qnote again from ' 'Wonders of Grace' ' 
pp. 9-11 : 

^'Near the town of A¥estbrook, Conn., 
there lived an aged woman, seventy-two 
years old, well known in the community 
as the ' old opium eater,' who had lived 
in the daily use of large quantities of this 
drug for more than twenty-two years. 
Her daily allowance was enough to de- 
stroy the lives of twenty persoUsT Wheth- 
er she ever had made any previous at- 
tempts to break away from the baneful 
practice, we know not ; but, on a certain 
day, the writer visited her in company 
with a brother minister stationed in the 
town. The subject of her opium eating 
was introduced, and a close and faithful 
discussion on the moral aspects of the case 
followed. The sin of the habit was clear- 
1}^ and unhesitatingly exposed, and her 
unsaved and perilous condition, so far ad- 
vanced in years, boldly but gently pro- 
nounced. Then Christ was presented, 
able to save to the uttermost — to save 
from the guilt and the passion of her sin- 



88 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

iul indulgence. She had listened with ev- 
ident interest, and the Holy Spirit was, 
without doubt, breathing deep conviction 
into her soul. As the last objection to 
seeking Jesus now^ trusting in him alone 
to do all for her, was answered, and the 
last prop of self -righteousness removed, 
this aged sinner, nearly double with years 
and a confirmed habit of iron strength, 
kneeled down with us to ask divine 
mercy and help. While thus engaged 
in prayer, ' immediately ' the desire left 
her, and she knew in herself that she was 
free from that plague. The bright divine 
evidence of her acceptance was not re- 
ceived, according to her testimony, until 
two weeks afterwards ; yet the desire for 
opium did not, in the interval, return ; 
and she lived for two years a happy wit- 
ness of the ' uttermost ' power of Christ 
to save. Her unwavering testimony to 
the end was, ' I am no more troubled with 
any desire for opium than if I had never 
sinned in the use of it. Jesus saves me. ' " 

Still more astonishing is the case of a 
ship carpenter — Peter Banta — ^in Brook- 






THE POWER OF GRACE. 89 

lyn, 'N. Y., also published in '^ Wonders 
of Grace," but revised by myself, from 
his own lips, he being under oath. 

" On the 3rd of July, 1860, he received 
a compound fracture of the leg below the 
knee, by the kick of a horse and falling 
from a wagon. 

'' His physician ordered ' McMunn's 
Elixir of Opium,' of which, he took a 
whole bottle that day to relieve his terri- 
ble suiferings. __ 

''Inflammation and ulceration super- 
vened, and for a long period he suif ered 
untold agony, to mitigate which he used 
from one to two-and-a-half bottles of the 
Elixir per day for nearly four years. 
Then, on account of the expense, he sub- 
stituted morphine, consuming one drachm 
bottle in five days. A drachm bottle 
contains sixty grains; one-eighth of one 
grain is a full dose for an adult, conse- 
quently he used four hundred and eighty 
doses every five days, or ninety- six adult 
doses per day. 

' ' In the course of the next five years he 
had increased his daily allowance to one- 
third of a bottle, or one hundred and 



90 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

sixty doses. In 1868, lie heard Rev. W. 
H. Boole preach on the power of Grace to 
overcome the opium habit, and then made 
his first effort to break off, but in vain — 
the appetite was too strong. Conscience, 
however, was aronsed, and for months he 
did not rest in his bed at all, but rolled 
upon the floor in utter wretchedness, 
night after night. In February, 1869, he 
made another attempt to break off the 
shackles of indulgence." 

We quote at this point from ' ' Wonders 
of Grace," p. 12-15: 

^' And for thirty-six hours he kept to 
the resolution, until the reactionary effects 
upon his mind and body became alarming, 
and friends were compelled to call in the 
help of a number of physicians to allay 
his extreme excitement and prevent fatal 
results. These physicians, five in num- 
ber, declared it necessary that he should 
resume the use of the morphine in order 
to prevent delirium or death. This he 
did, by taking one-half bottle, equal to 
two hundred and twenty doses, that 
night ; and he continued its use for a 
year longer. Being satisfied there was no 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 91 

help in resolutions and linman efforts, 
however well intended and sincere, he 
came one day to the parsonage to see me. 
He was in deep distress of mind, and, as 
he walked the floor, he exclaimed, ' What 
shall I do ? ' It was replied, ' Cease from 
sin ; give up the use of morphine.' ' But 
I shall die if I do,' he replied. 'Well, 
die then; better so than live in sin to die 
at last unforgiven.' While he continued 
walking to and fro under deep conviction, 
sometimes wringing his hands; he was 

thus accosted : ' Why, Mr. , you 

seem to look upon yourself as some 
great one whose difficult case demands a 
mightier Saviour than the rest of man- 
kind. You need no greater Saviour than 
God has provided for you and all men; 
and so small a thing is it for him to do to 
heal you, that Jesus can save a thousand 
just such as you, and do it with a word. 

''It was a novel idea to him that Christ 
could save him without effort, do it at 
once, do it with a word ; and the appre- 
hension of this truth evidently affected 
him favorably, for he became calm and 
thoughtful. 



92 THE POWER OF ORACE. 

'' The following Sabbath evening, he 
was forward at the altar of the church, 
earnestly seeking the power of God for 
his salvation. At a suitable time it was 
said to him, ' There is one thing hinders 
you from accepting Jesus : it is your re- 
fusal to trust Mm fully to save you from 
the appetite now. On your part, say, 
VNever will I again touch or taste the 
evil thing, though I may die ; and I will 
trust in Jesus only to save and keep me.'- 
It was but a few minutes untilhe made 
the full surrender; and then occurred a 
scene which will never be forgotten by 
those present. The Griory of the Lord 
shone in his sanctuary; power from on 
high came upon this wretched soul whom 
Satan had bound, lo ! these many years: 
his very face was illumined, while he 
poured forth his praises, exultinoj in his 
instantaneous and wonderful deliverance. 
It only remains to be added, that, from 
that glad hour, no desire for his former 
sin troubled him, no temptation to its in- 
dulgence has visited him ; he is greatl}' 
improved in his physical health, and he 
has experienced no reaction or ill effects 



THE POWEE OF OEACE. 93 

from the sudden disuse of the pernicious 
drug." 

A later and enlarged edition of Mr. 
Boole' s Tract adds the following sensible 
and timely remarks : 

''At this date he still lives, a monu- 
ment indeed of the mighty power of God. 
And it may be interesting to relate, as 
showing that the faith required to cast 
out ' this kind ' does not necessarily pro- 
duce the higher forms of intense spiritual 
life in the soul of the individuSf^iiat the 
subject of this wonderful cure, though re- 
ligious, and walking in the ordinary faith 
of Christian life, lays no claim to a high 
profession, and exhibits much timidity in 
the exercise of faith for spiritual blessings. 
Many temporal difficulties have assailed 
him since his conversion, and these seem 
to affect his peace in God, filling him 
with doubts and fears. Nevertheless, in 
regard to his deliverance from the curse 
of opium and morphine eating, and the 
complete taking away of all appetite and 
desire for these, he is now, after five years 
experience, as strong and decided in his 
testimony as he was in the first hour. 



94 the power of grace. 

Sectio^n^ 3. — The Rum Appetite. 

There is as little necessity to spend time 
in proving the wrongfulness of this indul- 
gence, as of the opium habit. We there- 
fore proceed to cite the testimony in 
hand : 

The first witness is J , who 

came to the Water Street Home for Wo- 
men, and asked to be taken in, declaring 
that if she was refused, she would throw 
herself into the river. Her mother died 
when she was young, and her step -mother 
proved unkind. 

She married a sea captain at sixteen, 
and by accompanying him upon his voy- 
ages, acquired the love for drink. She 
spoke five languages, and was worth 
$50,000 in her own right. 

After the birth of her child, she drank 
worse than before, and one day left it 
alone — when but fifteen months' old — 
and went out for drink. She staid away 
all day and all night. Upon her return, 
she found her child ruptured by exces- 
sive crying, and dead. Her husband then 
cast her off, and she took to the street, 



THE POWEE OF GEACE. 95 

and lived a long time in utter degradation 
and vice, until induced to apply at the 
Home. 

The next day she excitedly asked per- 
mission to go out, and Mr. Bell at once 
saw that the demon appetite was kindling 
its fire afresh. He begged her to stay, 
and went at once to the Fulton Street 
Prayer Meeting, and asked prayers for 
her. One prayed that she might then 
have help to resist. Mr. Bellj^eturned 
and found her composed and^^solved. 
She stayed, but for three weeks could be 
urged no further than to ask God for 
Grace to keep her from yielding, mean- 
time enduring all the gna wings of desire; 
but at the end of that time, she exercised 
faith for the immediate eradication of the 
appetite, and it was instantly given. She 
remained four months, and was then sent 
out to service, where she still remains, 
perfectly cured. 

The above is given from the Records of 
the '^Home for Women," at 273 Water 
Street, New York. 

The following is upon the authority of 
Mr. Bell, Superintendent of the '^ Home," 



96 THE POWEE 01" GBACE. 

and Missionary in the Fourth Ward, 
New York, at that time : 

' ' John D was born on the Isle 

of Wight, England, 1830. 

' ' The son of a Presbyterian minister, he 
wah educated for the ministry in England; 
and the first indication of dissipation 
which he gave was the formation of the 
habit of smoking while a student, at 
eighteen years of age. 

'''Of course,' said he 'I must soon 
have its boon companion in a glass once 
in a while.' 

' ' Not liquor, but beer. 

" The appetite increased for four years, 
when it became so strong, that he felt he 
could not do without it, and consequently 
abandoned all thoughts of the ministry ; 
buthiscu'cumstances restrained him a year 
longer, when he became intoxicated for the 
first time, and very soon after was so dis- 
graced, that he felt obliged to leave his 
country and come to America. 

' ' For two years he floated about, doing 
anything, and becoming more and more 
enslaved by his appetite. Then obtained 
a situation in Wall Street, where he has 



THE POWER OF GKACE. 97 

been ever since. His business hours 
closed at 2 p. m. After his morning's 
glass he could always control his appe- 
tite until 2 p. m., when business closed, 
then he would invariably become intoxi- 
cated and go home. Thus he lived for 
eighteen years. During all those years 
he was only very rarely — not of tener than 
once a year — in any place of worship. 
His wife was a backslider when he mar- 
ried her, but she became somewhat con- 
cerned about her soul, and atteSded Ful- 
ton Street Prayer Meeting, hoping to 
find light or relief. There she heard Mr. 
Fred. Bell speak of the power of God to 
save from any appetite, particularly 
strong drink ; and when she got home, 
told her husband of what she had heard. 
He became interested, and asked where 
Bell' s place was ; and at last promised to 
go and hear him preach. 

" He did so, and the text was ' Behold 
the man ; ' and from it he spoke of a sal- 
vation that would save from all sin, and 
particularly from strong drink. He was 
so interested, that neither himself or wife 
slept that night, but talked over the pos- 



98 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

sibility of his becoming a sober, Cliristian 
man, if wliat he had heard was true. 
Next morning, the wife proposed prayer, 
and she tried to point him to Christ while 
upon their knees, but it was all dark and 
confused until Salvation came to Tier soul; 
and in ecstacies she declared to her hus- 
band that God had saved her then and 
there. She was a very quiet and reserved 
woman, and when she spoke thus posi- 
tively and glowingly to him, he knew that 
it was so. She then pressed him to be- 
lieve that Christ would save him before 
he arose. But he would not have Salva- 
tion unless it would deliver him from his 
twin appetites for rum and tobacco. He 
did not know as he could have it, but he 
resolved to believe for it, and then trust 
Grod to keep him. On going to his busi- 
ness he had to pass the liquor shops where 
he had been accustomed to procure his 
morning glass, and found no desire what- 
ever for his dram. 

'^ ' So far,' said he, ' all right !' 
" Then, too, he found he had no desire 
for his morning smoke. All day in busi- 
ness everything went so smoothly that it 



^ THE POWER OF GRACE. 99 

' seemed like Sunday.' He went home 
sober that night at an early hour for the 
first time in many years. He went to the 
' Home ' and testified to all this, and no 
reaction took place either from the to- 
bacco habit of twenty-five years or the 
liquor habit of twenty years, but he felt 
buoyant as in his youth. 

'' About eleven months have now 
elapsed, and his old appetites have never 
revived." 

Here follows a case narratedlby^an asso- 
ciate, the subject himself having gone 
where no temptations come : 

" There lived among us a backslider, a 
respected man; some losses he met with 
caused him to take to the bottle, and for 
something like twenty years he seldom 
drew a sober breath. He was filthy in his 
conversation so that he was shunned ex- 
cept by his boon companions; but he had 
a praying wife, and for twenty years she 
followed him night and day with her 
prayers. God heard and answered in a 
wonderful manner. He laid him upon 
what all thought was his death bed, but 
in His loving mercy He pardoned his 



100 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

heart-wanderings and blest him with Sal- 
vation, and a more lovely Christian it 
would be hard to find. I worked with 
him a good deal after his restoration, and 
never enjoyed working with any one as I 

did with brother R . The ungodly 

were constrained to say, 'What a change 
in old Eph! ' as they used to call him. 
He assured me often that he had not the 
least appetite for rum. He thought that 
he could stand up to his knees in it, and 
have no desire for it ; and he could 
scarcely praise God enough for his de- 
liverance. Thus he lived for about two 
years a faithful Christian; then he took a 
bad cold which settled on his lungs, and 
he never rallied. But his chamber was a 
Bethel; it was good to be there, quite on the 
verge of Heaven. So patient, so resigned 
and happy, he passed away, and his last 
words were, ' For me to. live is Christ; but 
to die is gain.' " 

The good old lady whose testimony ap- 
pears upon page 72, writes concerning her 
brother-in-law, and husband — both drunk- 
ards at one time — that both were cured 
by prayer, the former instantaneously, 



THE POWEB OF GRACE. 101 

wlio lived eighteen years without the least 
desire for it, while her husband, cured a 
little more gradually, has been living now 
twenty-six years fully saved from all 
craving for liquor. 

The experience of Fred. Bell is so re- 
markable, that we give it as taken from 
his own lips expressly for this work. 

He had been drinking ten years, but 
had been an habitual drunkard seven 
years ; was converted when under the 
influence of liquor. ^^^^===--^ 

The reaction caused by suddenly giv- 
ing up the use of liquor brought on deli- 
Hum tremens^ and for three weeks he 
''passed through all the horrors of hell." 
Then told his wife that he could bear it 
no longer ; and.unless the religion, which 
the missionary by whose labors he had been 
converted had told him of, coul4 save him 
from this appetite, he must die or drink. 
So he went to the missionary and told 
him the same. He suggested signing the 
pledge. After it was done. Bell said : 
'' Sir, won't you pray to God forme, that 
I may be able to keep this pledge ? " 

Putting his hand on Bell's shouldei', 



102 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

the missionary replied : ' ' My boy, I 
want you to pray with me, that God will 
take away the appetite ! ' ' 

This aroused his curiosity, and he went 
home and told his wife what Mr. Gregg 
had said, and added, ''It seems too 
much ; but it will be for His glory, and 
I think He will do it." 

So both agreed to pray for it ; and after 
praying half an hour, during which time 
his wife repeatedly asked him, ' ' Is it 
gone yet?" at length he exclaimed, 
" Lord, take it away or I die ! " when a 
strange feeling passed over him, and he 
arose and said : ' ' Wife, I feel a funny 
happy; so glad; but it's funny glad ! " 
''But is it gone?" said she. "I don't 
know, but I'm so funny glad!" Five 
years subsequent experience has proved 
that the appetite was entirely eradicated 
just then. And three years later the ap- 
petite for tobacco, which had been in- 
dulged to excess for fifteen years, was 
instantly removed in answer to prayer. 

Again we quote from Mr. Boole' s Tract, 
adding our conviction that Christians 
might do great good by distributing it 



THE POWEE OF GRACE. 103 

freely among those who need its en- 
couragement : 

''It was about seven years ago when, 
on an afternoon, there came to our resi- 
dence a man whom we had known for 
several years. He was of excellent family, 
had an estimable Christian wife, and his 
children, now grown to manhood, were 
intelligent and respectable. But this 
father was a drunkard. For many years 
he had been addicted to the cup, and all 
efforts of friends had failed to^roduce 
any lasting effect upon him. Mortifica- 
tion and shame had stricken his family, 
and, as is usual, not himself alone was 
the sufferer by his vice, but the innocent 
were dragged down with him. As he en- 
tered the room, on the occasion above 
referred to, a glance at his face showed 
signs of deep feeling and dejection of 
spirit. ' What shall I do, sir ; my wife 
is almost heart-broken ; I am a disgrace 
to my children, and I cannot break away 
from this dreadful habit of drinking.' 
These were among his first utterances. 

'''Have you tried to break off from 
drinking ? ' 



104 THE POWER OP GRACE. 

'''Tried,' said he, 'tried! I have 
walked these streets 'till two o'clock in 
the morning, many a time, in the agony of 
my soul, becanse of my wretched con- 
dition. I have resolved against drink a 
hundred times, yet I cannot pass a liquor 
saloon, but I must go in and get a drink. 
What shall I do ? ' ' Have you prayed 
for help from God % ' ' Yes ; I have re- 
solved and prayed, but it is no use ; when 
the appetite comes on I can't resist.' 
' What have you prayed for % ' ' Why, 
that God would give me power to over- 
come the appetite and temptation to 
drink.' 'Ah, that has been your mis- 
take to pray to overcome the appetite. 
Have you not thought that God is able to 
extinguish the fiery appetite and thirst 
for liquor ? ' This was our reply to the 
enslaved dninkard. It was a new idea to 
the man, and he looked as if he would 
have said, 'Tell me that again.' We 
continued: 'You ought to be able to 
pass every rum- shop and liquor saloon as 
safely and unconcernedly as we do. 
This thirst for strong drink is unnatural 
and sinful. Now, God is able to save to 



I 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 105 

the uttermost ; and surely your sad case 
is included in the margin of ' uttermost.' 
Your resolutions to do better are of no 
value, because this sinful habit has 
broken your will-power, and your resolu- 
tion is born of a weak and enfeebled na- 
ture ; too weak indeed to contend against 
your fearfully strong appetite. It is not 
the will of your Heavenly Father that 
you should longer go fettered and bound 
in the chains of this slavery. Nor does 
He desire you should pray tcPo^rcome 
what He is ready and able at once to de- 
stroy — this craving for a sinful thing. 
But yop. must trust in the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and His power to save youTio^o, — 
save you most fully and keep you saved. 
Now, the Holy Spirit will do all this in 
you : He is ' the "power that worlceth in 
us ; ' and the word of promise is, ' He is 
more willing to give the H oly Spirit to 
them that ask than we are to give good 
gifts unto our children.' Will you ac- 
cept of His help and yield yourself up to 
His power % ' This anxious man seemed 
to comprehend the situation at a glance : 
he was in a condition to grasp at any real 



106 THE POWER OF GEACE. 

and substantial support ; and as he seri- 
ously answered, 'I will; I do,' we knelt 
to pray. The prayer was very short ; for 
the dear Lord needs no urging when real 
need ?indi faith agree to accept His grace. 
When he rose we said, ' Now, don't avoid 
the corner shops if your duties call you 
to walk the streets ; you are to walk in 
liberty, and are more than conqueror 
through Him who is able to keep you 
from falling. Let Him do it for you ; 
abandon yourself to Him, and wherever 
we can safely go, you can also go.' This 
man left the house a saved being in soul 
and body. He united with the Church, 
and lived a consistent life. ' But did the 
cure last ? Was there no return of the 
desire, the thirst ? ' 

''Well, four years after this interview, 
he having in the mean time removed 
from the neighborhood, we met him as 
he walked in one of the avenues. We 
found that he was engaged in a lawful 
business, but which required him, how- 
ever, to associate with drinking men, and 
spend part of his time in the neighbor- 
hood of liquor saloons. ' How about 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 107 

your old taste, and habit of drinking ? ' 
we asked. He smiled and looked liappy, 
as lie earnestly replied, ' Oh, I have never 
from that day tasted a drop, have not 
had the slightest desire for any, nor 
temptation to it ; ' and his face, with 
both his eyes, verified the statement." 

Sec. 4. — The Habit of Irritability. 

We first give place to a letter from an 
intelligent physician in a southern city. 

August 16, 1873. 
Dear Sir : 

"Observing your queries in to-day's 
Home Journal^ I am moved to write you. 

' 'I cannot yet claim entire sanctiiication, 
but I feel that I am advancing, and gain- 
ing knowledge of the way by experience. 

"I find in myself that irritability of 
nerves from duty required despite ex- 
haustion, &c, extends or not, to the moral 
sphere proper, (abating benevolence and 
stirring up temper,) exactly in accord 
with my willingness to endure the 
physical distress for the Lord' s sake. If 
I am, it does not rufiie the temper, only 



108 THE POWER OF OR ACE. 

gives me a ' gone feeling ' about the head 
or heart, or drowsiness, or something else, 
physically, with the distinct thought of 
God caring, and graduating the burden 
wisely and well, perhaps on purpose to 
devitalize this body, and so to shorten my 
pilgrim way ; perhaps only to kill out all 
trust in physical power to supplement 
grace in the carrying on of the inward work 
of holiness. A good meal, an ice cream, a 
nap of sleep, or an excursion, or company, 
may be indicated as according to His will, 
for amelioration ; but if the way be barred, 
it is a distinct call to suffer toith Christy 
in which, you know, is much cause to re- 
joice, even though the occasion be little. 
If not barred, then it may be taken, as- 
suring myself that it is done also as unto 
Him. 

' ' On the contrary, if my will refuses the 
burden and cross, of perpetual demand 
for brick without the complement of straw 
wherewith to make it ; if I resent the or- 
der of Providence, which places me in such 
a position, I will as surely so far hate, or 
cease to love persons who are the instru- 
ment or occasion of it, and even look up- 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 109 

on the Lord Himself a.s an Israelite would 
upon his taskmaster, or as a prisoner 
would on an arbitrary or at least thought- 
less jailor. Temper then displays itself. 

'^ Such felt irritability \% clearly incom- 
patible with a holy heart, being an impu- 
tation against the wisdom, benevolence, 
and care of the Master, and a variance of 
my will from His, who calls me to endure, 
but I object. All is due to defective con- 
secrationy 

Mothers and housekeepers wHT^appre- 
ciate the force of the following, which 
speaks for itself : 

' ' I want to say to the glory of God 
that I have been kept from all sense of 
irritability, while in a state of nervous 
exhaustion, under circumstances that 
were very trying, with the cares of a fam- 
ily pressing upon me, and with very poor 
help." 

Now comes one, fifty-nine years a con- 
queror. A man of God of hoary head 
and saintly heart, who needs no voucher 
to those who know him as one of the vet- 
eran itinerants of the past : 

'^ You desire matters of fact in experi- 



110 THE POWER OF ORACE. 

ences. To save copying your questions, 
I will refer to tliem by tlieir numbers. 

1. My natural temperament is nervous, 
irritable; yet, afterl was sanctified, Octo- 
ber 26tli, 1809, I did not for three years 
feel my passions ruffled or disturbed; 
though often placed in the most trying 
circumstances, and the greatest of provo- 
cations, such as, if I had not been under 
the power of saving grace, would have 
caused anger and retaliation. Feeling 
called of God to preach, but being repul- 
sed by the preachers because I was so 
young (eighteen) ; before I was aware of it, 
my mind became despondent, and I became 
irritable, and remained so for two years, 
though I never lost the evidence of 
justification. If the irritability rose so as 
to feel the least degree of anger, I had to 
repent, pray, and obtain forgiveness, be- 
fore I could feel peace in my soul. After 
two years in this state, I regained the 
evidence of perfect love, and now for fifty - 
nine years have been without a cloud in 
that particular ; and I often wonder at 
the mercy and grace of God that have 



I 



THE POWER OF GRACE. Ill 

kept me in this state, and /i^^Z that it is 
of grace, and not of myself. 

" Do not understand me as being free 
from temptation when ' in a state of ner- 
vous exhaustion,' or at other times, but 
I am not conscious of any stronger tempta- 
tions when in that state, than when not; 
my strongest temptations have been when 
under nervous excitement, not exhaus- 
tion. I have often felt a sense of the 
wrong done me, and felt grieved on ac- 
count of it, but felt no angerT^atred, ill- 
will, or like retaliating. 

' ' It has been, and is, a question in my 
mind, what standard of holiness, or 
Christian perfection, we have in the Bible 'i 
or what allowance God makes for human 
infirmities? Job was ^a perfect man,' 
at least Grod said so ; but he said things 
that I could not, and feel a clear con- 
science. I could not curse the day of my 
birth, nor wish I had not been born. I 
have not the least idea that I am more 
than perfect, or more so than Job was, 
yet I could not do as he did. 

' ' It is said in Scripture that ' God is 
angry with the wicked every day,' and 



112 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

of Christ it is said, ' he looked upon them 
with anger ^ being grieved at their unbe- 
lief.' In what this anger consists, is the 
question. I cannot for a moment think 
it is like human anger ; or contains in it 
a revengeful feeling. God is said to have 
been ' grieved to the heart,' at the wicked 
ways of the Israelites ; and Christ was 
grieved at the unbelief of those who wit- 
nessed his miracles, but did not believe 
in his Messiahship. But judging from 
my own feeling, I cannot think of the 
Divine anger meaning anything more 
than a high sense of disapproval ; and 
yet abundant in mercy, and willing to 
forgive. 

'^ 2. The felt irritability, whatever it 
may arise from, may be only the tempta- 
tion, and no sin, if not yielded to ; and 
as Christ was tempted, yet without sin, 
so we may be tempted, and yet be ' con- 
sistent with a holy heart,' if we don't 
yield to it. Bodily infirmities may be 
the occasion of the temptation, as ' hun- 
ger, was of Christ ; and the temptation 
may have more power in it from this cir- 
cumstance ; but God's grace is sufficient. 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 113 

' He will not suffer us to be tempted 
above what we are able.' This has been 
my experience." 

We have looked in vain over the fol- 
lowing . letters for some portion to omit, 
but the lucid statements of facts, all so in- 
teresting, ought to be read as they are 
written ; and therefore are inserted entire. 

The second letter was in answer to per- 
sonal inquiries, addressed to the writer 
by the author of this treatise : 

SeptTlff, 1873. 
My dear Brother in Christ : 

''As I opened the Advocate for Sep- 
tember, my eye fell first on your 
' card,' and with eager interest I perused 
the very important questions given there- 
with. It is not without much prayerful- 
ness, and some very intimate commun- 
ings with God as to His will in the matter, 
that I have concluded to reply to the first 
of these. The query is very carefully and 
concisely put ; and to it, just as it stands, 
accepting its phraseology just as it would 
naturally be understood, I will say to the 
glory of God, yes. I have proven that 



114 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

one ^of a nervous temperament' can ' be so 
kept by tlie power of grace that in a time 
of continual strain of duties, and tohile in 
a state of nervous exhaustion' she 'shall 
be free from all sense of irritability. ' I 
would add to this an emphasis by saying, 
that after fifteen years of invalidism, as a 
great sufferer, and my whole nervous sys- 
tem become a wreck, I was in that con- 
dition mentioned, where ' irritability ' 
had become to me almost a second nature. 
I confess, too, that prior to all this I was 
as a child, very quick tempered ; yet I 
find God' s ' grace ' is sufficient to keep 
us, even in extreme cases, from falling. 
To Jesus be everlasting honors paid ! 

' ' In reviewing the ' card, ' I see that 
you ask not only a reply, but ' a state- 
ment of such experience. Mine is one so 
very personal that I have never written it, 
and but to one friend has it been told. 

''However I give it, that you under- 
standing the case may cull such items as 
you choose. It was found necessary in 
the Fall of 1869 that I should undergo a 
series of medical treatment which called 
me daily to New York {did for nine 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 115 

months); I had scarce strength to get there 
and return, spending all the interval in 
my bed. Soon after this commenced, it 
was decided that I must submit almost to 
starvation, in order to reduce my flesh, 
and this extreme abstinence was to con- 
tinue three months. I should say that 
my cure — all for nervous pains — had long 
been in the use of tea and extra food. 
These both taken from me, I was almost 
beside myself, and every symptom con- 
nected with the disordered state of my 
general nervous system was aggravated. 
Naught but great will power on my part, 
and my confidence in the will and judg- 
ment of my Dr. took me through. Then 
I had not learned to say ' Thou art my 
strength.' 

''About that time I was taken, an entire 
novice, to the Tuesday meeting, (Dr. 
Palmer's). It made me weaker and 
sicker every time ; so that I scarcely 
made up my physical loss during the 
week; and yet so terrible was my spirit- 
ual condition, that wise friends, dear 
souls deeply taught of the Spirit bade me 
go. If words could avail I would praise 



116 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

Jesus now for that, inasmuch as it was the 
means blessed to the Jiealing of my soul, 
after this the body recovered from untold 
chronic suffering of fifteen years standing. 
' ' We pass now to a time, when that ex- 
treme fasting had ceased, and the abstem- 
ious diet I used was by contrast quite a 
luxury for me. I had come in the mean- 
while to be well enough to be very ljusy\ 
and moreover I had learned to trust Jesus 
for and with every thing. There was no 
department in my life into which this 
trust did not enter. As I became more 
active, I ventured to eat more but soon 
found that my weight increased. I knew 
into what condition my head was put by 
former fasting, and the question came up 
' Ought I to try it, and thereby perhaps 
be disabled to perform this work the Lord 
gives me to do for Him? ' I went to God 
with it, and in a way to which I was then 
unaccustomed, that prayer took the form 
of dialogue. As though we walked arm 
in arm. He talked with me. I asked if 
indeed it were worth while, and if I should 
venture. He replied, ' Canst thou trust 
me V I said, ' yes. Lord — but in what di- 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 117 

rection shall I turn'^' He asked, if I 
would go as He told me. I promised to, 
if so be I might only see Him leading, so 
as to know the way. Then he fastened 
upon me the query, ' Whither soever V 
At this point I felt still willing, but oh, so 
pressed ! If he had walked me up to the 
very edge of a precipice, and said step 
forward — it would not have tried me 
more. (By faith I took that step.) As 
we reached this point I cried out, ' Yes^ 
Lord, only let thine everlastteg arm be 
underneath me.' 

' ' From that time I felt directed to pur- 
sue again those extreme means, and had the 
assurance too, that I should not be un- 
able to work on, in the use of ordinary 
mental power, even while the natural 
supply was cut off ! 

^^'I tried it, and it was even so. Nay 
more, my writing and study increased 
upon me, but no physical inability stood 
in the way. 

' ' I considered it an unusual and precious 
triumph ; due all of it to ' the power of 
grace.^ 

' ' I may add, that so habituated to God' s 



118 THE POWER OE GRACE. 

keeping power am I, that though 
freq^uently ' in a state of nervous exhaus- 
tion ' quite severe, the irritability does 
not come. 

" At the time referred to above, I 
found in my dreams still the old ten- 
dency to ' temper. ' I could not think it 
'consistent with a holy heart,' or even 
possible in one fully saved, I felt as re- 
sponsible and condemned as though it 
were the sin of my waking hours. I 
looked to Jesus /or, and by a specific 
faith claimed^ victory just there. I need 
only say He kept His promise, and ac- 
cording to my faith it was to me. I can- 
not think that a ' disordered bodily con- 
dition ' justifies us in aught which under 
the same ' conditions ' we should not find 
in Christ Jesus." 

Sept. 20th, 1873. 
Rev. S. H. P. : 

Dear Sir : — Yours is received, and in 
view of its request I am finding myself 
in rather an odd position. Inasmuch as I 
am wholly the Lord's ; all that I have is 
His, for whatever purpose it will sub- 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 119 

serve. And yet, to give to a stranger, and 
to others indefinitely these confidences so 
personal, is altogether contrary to my 
natural tastes. My life is aptly described 
in one of Dr. Holland' s lines, as made of 
' unwritten histories, unfathomed mys- 
teries.' I cannot, however, decline so to 
do, for the hope I have that some weak, 
tempted soul may find herein a bit of 
comfort, or ray of hope or light. Oh, that 
all such would see the enormous sin of 
limiting God' s power ! __ 

''In September, 1851, I had a violent 
attack of typhoid fever, which ran with- 
out a break forty- two days, and I all 
that time in a delirium. One after an- 
other three attending physicians gave up 
the case; and only a mother's care out- 
ran the disease. It was induced by se- 
vere mental tax at school, followed by 
a great grief, and some very trying den- 
tistry which called me daily to take a 
long, hot walk. My nervous system 
was shattered, and my poor head almost 
useless ; so for years it continued, and I 
a victim of neuralgia coming daily to 
any part of my body. After that, I set- 



120 THE POWER OF GEACE. 

tied down into a nervous headache, 
which was seldom a day gone ; and 
worse than this, dyspepsia. I know it 
in all its forms, and can fully appreci- 
ate the numberless ' side issues ' that 
come of it. While away at school, I 
had fallen from a high swing on a 
stony place ; and during these years of 
weakness my back refused longer to ig- 
nore it — it ached a great deal. 

'^ Previous to any of this (and up to 
my cure in 1869), I had been really af- 
flicted with acute periodic suffering, and 
grown very nervous and morMd^ just 
from the dread of pains, so intolerable. 
My late increase of flesh tended, the 
doctor thought, to apoplexy ; hence 
his haste in depleting me. My diet 
was for three months only a small piece 
of lean meat twice a day, and a little 
sour fruit, just enough food to prevent 
disease from ruining my stomach. No 
drinks allowed except cold water, and 
that only between meals. So you see, 
the ' complications ' were enough ! Med- 
icine of all the schools, and water treat- 
ment, had been given me without benefit. 



I 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 121 

" Naturally of a sanguine tempera- 
ment, I thought each time I should be 
cured, and in each failure was almost 
killed with disappointment. I had re- 
solved that henceforth no power of per- 
suasion should ever tempt me to try 
any remedy, nor would I ever again 
hope for relief. 

''With the thought, however, that 
my spared life was for some purpose, 
and that as I was ' twas worse than use- 
less — that I was a cumb^rer-- J3f the 
ground — I didn't dare keep that vow. 
I was overpersuaded, and did under- 
take Swedish movements. I was not 
only cured in all respects, but have 
remained so. 

''Now a word about my good, Mnd 
doctor ; and it' s for God' s glory, not in 
the spirit of criticism. He is a man of 
quick sympathies, strong will and great 
magnetic power. My friend who had 
been his patient, advised me to yield 
myself to his influence ; and when I was 
so weak through depletion, I found that 
it was my only comfort ; I felt as if I 
were carried, while resting on his will 



122 THE POWER OF aRACE. 

and liopefnlness. He however was an 
inildel, and far more gifted in argument 
than I. I was seeking health, and Je- 
sus ; he to cure me by equalizing forces 
— that is, to tax and develop my mus- 
cular system, and quiet the mental. He 
forbade all brain work. I obeyed scrup- 
ulously, except Tuesdays. His patients 
were like him, and yet though I was 
with them at his room, that hot bed of 
infidelity, two hours daily, Jesus lield 
me. I was learning the way of full salva- 
tion, despite a weak body, and the firmest 
educational prejudices that ever a blue 
Pres' had to combat. The meeting sick- 
ened me, because I was kicking hard 
against the pricks, and for six months I 
went through a constant crucifixion. I dis- 
liked the peculiarities of the place, but yet 
could not stay away, and being so fasci- 
nated, continued to go, till ' by the power 
of grace ' I yielded to the Spirit' s call. 

' ' If your patience is not already ex- 
hausted, permit a few words not just to 
the point. In my consecration I found 
so little to give to Jesus — only my will 
and my pen. He had chosen to use the 



THE POWER OF ORACE. 123 

latter. With it He keeps me busy woo- 
ing and winning souls to entire sanctifi- 
cation. I, who had been a church mem- 
ber eighteen years, and full of unbelief 
(but didn't know it), can now, in utmost 
tenderness and patience, bear with others. 
I find the church is full of unbelief ! I 
ask your prayers for God's blessing on 
my work. It's all His, and I but the 
tool used. You see now why I was so 
led to reply to those very ' questions,' 
the which are so often glossed over by 
the Tempter. Sick ones verilytliink they 
may run on with a loose rein. Oh, that 
OoW s will were paramount with all who 
name the name of Christ ! " 

We have thus cited unimpeachable 
testimony upon the several habits of to- 
bacco, strong drink, opium, and irritabil- 
ity, and leave the facts with the reader, 
abstaining from comment, only asking 
him to read again pp. 9-11, and then judge 
impartially, as the evidence demands, 
and act as the Holy Spirit may suggest. 

Sec. 5. — The Habit of Lust. 

Mr. Bell thus narrates the case of a 



124 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

Mr. , a Custom House officer, 

33 years of age, stout and full of animal 
spirits, who spent Ms entire salary of be- 
tween $3,000 and $4,000, and all Ms spare 
time on fast horses and loose women. He 
was not an excessive drinker. By some 
means he was induced to visit the meet- 
ings at the Water Street "Home," and 
was there converted. The first week af- 
ter, he was exceedingly troubled with 
lascivious desire, and strongly tempted 
to resort again to the houses of ill-fame. 
Just then, he heard about "full salya- 
Tioisr," and concluded that he did not 
want a religion that could not save him 
' 'fully ' ' in that particular direction. He 
sought at once, and found the peace of 
perfect trust. The result has been, he 
has been kept through severe trials, and 
still stands, the only Christian among 
three hundred fellow laborers, and is one 

of the brightest lights of the 

Church. 

The Western minister whose testimony 
upon the tobacco habit has already been 
cited on page 66 further writes : 

" As to question 5, if it refers to appe- 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 125 

tites simply, and not to passions, then it 
applies to myself. As to passions, this was 
not my besetment, though it was the Doc- 
tor' s just mentioned. But in respect to 
my appetite and his passions, in no in- 
stance that we can recollect has the peace 
of the soul been disturbed — only ruffled 
on the surface — for we had ' come to him 
and found rest to our souls.' I believe 
we are kept from its desire even, by a 
power above nature. The capacity for its 
use was never destroyed, but He sanctified 
it, purified it, and, subject to^^Ehe^condi- 
tions of all salvation. He has silenced its 
demands. Here are the experiences of two 
in these different ages of life, viz : the Doc- 
tor is upwards of fifty, while I am only 
twenty-five." 

The physician whose letter appears up- 
on page 107, relative to irritability, says : 

" On your last two questions I can also 
speak from experience, not as to momen- 
tary, but rather gradual release ; yet re- 
maining but partial — but I trust ad- 
vancing with increasing speed to the mo- 



126 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

ment of entire deliverance. The gradual 
part is, I know, simply due to a gradual 
consecration of details, as dependent on 
a gradual increase of light upon those de- 
tails, with equal increase of conviction, 
on which the general matter largely hinges 
with me. (I do not refer to drinking, or 
anything of that sort, but to an appetite of 
equal power, the gratification of which is 
providentially circumscribed to a degree 
that has been an infinite source of disquiet 
and temptation). But certainly Jesus 
was tempted in this also, and can keep 
my body pure, and mind also, by the 
power which kept His own. 

''But I find the same answer to this 
query as to the first. The whole matter 
turns on the questions, does God order it? 
does God care ? Am I willing to forego 
my ' natural rights ' in this respect, and 
to endure the spoliation for His sake ? 
Or, again, do I, doubting His care, resent, 
refuse, and take the bit between my 
teeth, mentally ; chafing under the inflic- 
tion ? If so, at every solicitation, conflict ; 
if not, peace ! I alternate these experi- 



THE POWER OF OKACE. 127 

ences as yet. Grod grant full consecrating 
power to finally settle all. 

I remain, fraternally yonrs, 



A very sincere brother writes : 
' ' My experience is, that these stronger 
appetites of the organism are all subdued 
in perfect consecration to the will of Je- 
sus, to possess us, and use the grace given. 
A full consecration of our powers and 
members to Jesus is sufficientjto make us 
proof against any temptatioivtoar known 
evil, that will mar the peace of the soul." 

The following contains sound argument 
as well as good experience : 

' 'If I understand question fifth, I answer, 
Yes. This is a natural and God-given 
appetite, and one of the things for which 
we ought to thank Grod as much as for a 
natural appetite for food. Connubial 
pleasure is one of the things which should 
make us love God more, ,and which does 
make us love him more when our heart is 
right. If we yield to imagination, we 
shall, in all probability, find discord. 
Though Paul had a thorn in the tiesh. 



128 THE POWEK OF GRACE. 

yet tlie grace of Grod was sufficient for 
him, and he could glory. 

^' The Devil tempts men through the im- 
agination in a very large degree, painting 
seeming prospective pictures of pleasure 
and bliss ; there is where the discord gets 
in. If a man would fortify himself with 
truth, filling his mind with it to repletion, 
he would have no room for imagination. 

" There is nothing in nature or natural 
appetites, any of them, that need to dis- 
turb, or that will disturb, the peace of 
God. They enhance that peace. God 
does not work against himself. Jesus 
says, 'For this reason God made them 
male and female.' 

" God has power over hereditary desire, 
or perverted, as much as over anything. 

' ' Something of this I know, for ama- 
tiveness was so strong in me, as to pro- 
duce a positive deformity of my head, 
being the largest organ on my head by 
considerable, and showed itself before I 
could walk readily ; yet God has kept 
me, that I have never slipped. Jesus 
came to save men from sin, not from 
temptation, further than as Paul says. 



THE POWEE OF GEACE. 129 

' thfit ye may be able to bear it.' Christ 
makes the way to escape from sin now as 
much as ever." 

As this work is designed for general 
circulation, it might be deemed indelicate 
to insert the very detailed and explicit 
testimonies which have been received up- 
on this point. 

The author has therefore prepared a 
Private Treatise for both sexes, called 
Princely Manhood^ discussing the sub- 
ject as briefly as is consistent witi^ a fair 
presentation of facts, means and methods 
of self-control and soul-victory, and de- 
tailing testimony at length of a most as- 
tounding character from persons of un- 
questionable veracity. 

In order that the subject may he justly 
represented in these pages, and no oppor- 
tunity of good to the reader be allowed to 
pass unimproved, we transcribe some of 
the many evidences that we are from time 
to time receiving, of its great utility and 
almost unequaled helpfulness, drawn 
mainly from private sources, because the 
book has not been furnished for editoria 
criticism, save in a few instances. The 



130 THE POWER OE GRACE. 

delicacy of tlie subject, and tlie great 
necessity for information of the right 
kind, are onr apologies for the insertion 
of the following pages, and from the evi- 
dence contained in the book to which 
these pages refer, it is proved unques- 
tionably that even those of a strong 
amative tendency, and habituated to fre- 
quent indulgence, may become in a very 
short time so reconstructed in this depart- 
ment of their nature, that total absti- 
i^E:rsrcE shall be pleasure so peacefully 
maintained, that they will wonder at the 
vehemence of their former passions. 

BosToisr, Mass., June, 1674. 

Dear Brother Piatt : 

' ' I like your your ' Princely Manhood ' 
much. I pray God to bless it to the good 
of many. 

Yours, in Jesus, 

Charles Cullis." 

Mass., May 23, 1874. 
My Dear Sir : — I have examined with 
interest your little work on ' ' Princely 
Manhood.'' It is clear, earnest, and pure. 



:: 



THE POWEK OF GEACE. 131 

I trust it meets a large sale. Its entire 
freedom from mercenary and other un- 
worthy motives, gives it a strong claim 
upon the attention of parents. I do not see 
why you should say, "for adults only." 
I should be more than willing to have a 
daughter or son of ten or twelve years of 
age read and study every line of it. Hop- 
ing that you will use every honorable 
means to secure a broad distribution of 
this admirable little work, I am, 

Yours very truly, 3^==^ 

Dig Lew^is. 
The following is from a widely known 
clergyman in the West : 

Your valuable publication entitle 
''Princely Manhood," fell into my hands 
a few days ago. I must say that I was 
astonished when I read it. I am pretty 
well posted on the subjects treated therein; 
have read a great deal on those and kin- 
dred subjects, but this little book handled 
the matter so unlike other authors, and 
pointed out the riglitioay so plainly, and 
altogether, wrote from a stand-point so 
different, that I was greatl}^ delighted in 
its perusal. I sliall feel it ni}^ dut}^ as a 



132 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

Christian minister, to circulate ' ' Princely 
Manhood.-' I have been thinking very 
latelj^, ' ' Where can I find a work of this 
kind that I can recommend — one that is 
not tinctnred with infidelity in some of its 
forms ?" From my acquaintance with Rev. 
S. H. Piatt as an author, and from what I 
have seen of this book, I think it will do a 
vast amount of good where circulated. 

A business man of culture and varied 
experience writes thus from a New Eng- 
land city : 

The main purpose of this writing is to 
thank you for ''Princely Manhood," a 
copy of which I saw yesterday for the first 
time. I have read it through twice. I am 
forty-six years old, have read many books 
and more men, but in this little book now 
for the first time have seen a plain state- 
ment of a truth I have known to exist. 
This generation will die unsaved, but the 
time will come when good men will under- 
stand and obey this truth that you have 
so modestly set forth. ITcnow 7iow much 
need there is of it^ and conld. torite a vol- 
ume of Uhistrative facts to prove its neces- 



THE POWER OF OBACE. 133 

sity. Yet liow few see it ! I have talked 
with good men, wlio admitted tlie beauty 
of the theory, but denied that it is practi- 
cal ; but I KNOW it to be so ! 

Another, in high official position, in 
Brooklyn, N. Y., writes: 

Acquaintance with its truths will be of 
inestimable value to all who seek high 
moral or Christian attainments. It is a 
scientific, philosophical and christianlj^ 
showing of matters most intimately con- 
nected with human welfare, and of which 
most persons are deplorably ignorant. 

Prom Brooklyn also comes the follow- 
ing endorsement by one of its most suc- 
cessful physicians : 

The theme is one that has been thought 
to belong only to my own profession, j^et 
I see no objection to its careful handling 
by any prudent minister who is sufficient- 
ly acquainted with the related sciences to 
speak intelligently about it. Your own 
treatment of the subject is thoroughly 
scientific, intensely practical, chaste in ex- 
pression, and, in its exhibition of the help- 



134 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

fulness of Grace, greatly exalting to one' s 
conception of the Gospel as a Cure for 
liuman sin. It will not only do good^ but 
just the Mnd of good most needed. 

Another intelligent and successful phy- 
sician writes from a city in Connecticut : 

Its influence for good upon the lives and 
health of those who read it can scarcely 
be estimated. I believe it will harmonize 
many domestic difficulties, and so instruct 
parents that children will be saved from 
many pernicious habits. 

A clergyman, of Boston, says: ''It 
ought to be read by every adult in the 
world." 

Another, in Brooklyn, affirms: ''The 
subject is treated in a very chaste and re- 
fined manner, evincing great research, and 
I earnestly recommend it." 

Another writes : " It is a mighty incen- 
tive to true, royal, christian manhood." 

While still another writes thus : "After 
untold suffering, induced by vicious hab- 



THE POWEK OF GRACE. 135 

its before my conversion, and j^ears of al- 
most hopeless struggle, I have been won- 
derfully saved in a very short time by the 
method advocated in ' Princely Man- 
hood.' " 

The following we give unabridged from 
the man who is better qualified, perhaps, 
than any other in the Brooklyn pulpit, to 
speak intelligently^ and discriminatingly 
on this subject : 

Brooklyin^, MajLS^ 1874. 

Dear Bro. Piatt : — I have at length read 
your ''Princely Manhood" with great 
care. I could not conscientiously give 
my criticism till I had thoroughly exam- 
ined it. And now I shall speak, not as a 
reviewer, but as a brother who enters into 
the spirit of the book with ardent feeling 
as well as careful thought. Other books 
of great value have been written upon this 
subject, and many more will be, and, on 
account of the immense importance there- 
of, need be. Some of these I have read, 
and none without seeing in them excellen- 
cies. Your work, however, excels tlieiu all 



136 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

in this^ that it looks at the subject from 
the stand-point of exalted spiritual life. 
It considers sexual functions as pertain- 
ing to tlie most elevated character, notes 
their abuses as crimes against the highest 
laws of our being, locates the real seat of 
abuse in the mind and heart, and presents 
conclusively the all-sufficient power of the 
saving Grace of Grod as a remedy of uni- 
versal application. It opens with an en- 
nobling view of the Sexual Powers, al 
lowing to them a high and commanding 
place. It glorifies them with purity, 
showing their ministry to the growth of 
the affections. 

Chapter IV. presents a startling array 
of citations, proving the prevalence of the 
abuse by which this book was made nec- 
essary. As a warning, I think the chapter 
will do great good, especially because 
other chapters in connection with it offer 
such certain help. 

The addresses to the Married and to 
Parents, showing the far-reaching effects 
and unmeasured evils attendant upon 
marital excess, should be before the eyes 
of the heads of every household. 



THE POWER OF GEACE. 137 

When yon so strongly present tlie bless- 
ings of ' ' tlie sanctified disuse of any f ac- 
nlty or fnnction wliich Providence bars 
out of legitimate opportunity," you lay 
open one of the noblest manifestations of 
a true faith in God and obedience to Him. 
A volume might be evolved from the broad 
truth here opened. 

Chapter VIII. , on the Attainment of 
Harmon}^ between sexual life and the 
highest spiritual aspirations, expresses, 
all too briefly, yet to the thoughtful mind 
with distinguishing clearne^sipthe practi- 
cal relation which the higher reason should 
assume toward the physical man. I can- 
not tell )^ou how earnestly I endorse the 
several rules here laid down, viz. , the en- 
tire Reconciliation to Sex, which ends the 
struggle of the man with himself ; the 
declaration that normal sexual excitement 
is a sacred activity ; that it cannot, in the 
heaven- ordained course of nature, be 
avoided, and that the powder of the Grace 
of God is sufficient to reconcile, sanctify, 
and control this faculty of human life. 

Your conclusions are most wise and ac- 
ceptable, and the state of Glorious Rest to 



138 THE POTTER OE GEACE. 

wMcli tlie following of your practical di- 
rections inevitably leads, is as certain as 
it is desirable. When parents take yonr 
advice, men will be nnmeronsly saved 
and God greatly glorified. 

In conclusion, my dear Brother Piatt. I 
must say, its statements are so clear, its 
conclusions so sonnd, its spiiit so pure 
and exalted that I would fully recom- 
mend it to all the world. 

It has no doubt aj^peared to you, as it 
clearly does to me. that the work could 
be greatly expanded, and that thus en- 
larged, many of its positions might be 
more extensively enforced, so as to make 
it more impressive to common minds. It 
bears throughout the mark of a condens- 
ation almost too severe. Yet your object 
being to make a popular book which 
should be recommended to large ciiTula- 
tion by its small expense, makes this ex- 
cusable. 

Great is the work to be done in this de- 
partment of instruction. Take comfort 
in tlie fact tliat a part of that work you 
have well done, lifting the subject to the 
only i»lanr where Christ, by the Holy 



THE POWER OE GRACE. 139 

Gliost^ saves and sanctifies tlie whole man. 
I remain, with full sympathy and sin- 
cere love. 

Yours in Christ, 



The Methodist Home Journal^ April 
4th, 1874, says : 

Rev. S. H. Piatt, A. M., author of sever- 
al publications of an intensely spiritual 
character, has lately issued a treatise 
entitled '' Princely Manhood,'* in which 
the sexual relations are viewed from a 
religious stand-point. It is^^ell said that 
purity of thought is the most difficult 
attainment in the Christian life, and the 
author, in his attempt to elevate the 
struggling aspirant to a life of rectitude 
has evinced a brave indiflference to prurient 
sensibilities, and a noble aim to benefit 
humanity. We could wish that this out- 
spoken, honest, and convincing book 
might go forth, not only to correct ex- 
isting evils, but prevent the demoraliza- 
tion caused by such infamous literature 
as tends only to inflame passion and ruin 
body and soul. The salvation of the Gos- 
pel, it is maintained, is for both, and to 



140 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

all tlie helpless there is afforded hope, 
and certainty of victory by faith in the 
Lord Jesns Christ. 

The Woi^W s Crisis^ Boston, March 
25th5 says : 

' ' Princely Manhood ' ' is the title of a 
new book of much valne, just issued by 
Rev. S. H. Piatt, Bridgeport, Ct. The 
fact that it conies fi^om his pen affords a 
surety that it is worth reading. This is 
''a private treatise, for adults only," 
treating upon ^'the procreative instinct, 
as related to moral and christian life." 
It is truly a hooJc for the times^ and of 
great value to all for whom it is designed. 

We fully endorse the following state- 
ments in relation to the work : 

' ' This work is one of rare interest and 
value, and 'should be read,' says a Bos- 
ton editor, 'by every man in the world.' 
It treats the subject of the author's lec- 
ture on the same name more in detail, 
and is a mine of rich suggestion to the 
middle aged and young. Except the 
Bible, no father can give his child a 
more valuable literary keepsake than 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 141 

this. Millions of money and years of 
health would be saved if men would heed 
its words." 

We recommend the book to all for 
whom it was prepared, as one of special 
value, particularly to those who are anx- 
ious to enjoy pure religion. 

Says Mrs. Anna Wittenmyer of Phila- 
delphia, in the Christian Woman^ April, 
1874: 

' ' Princely Manhood ' ' is the name of a 
modest little book that has^idund its way 
to our table. 

The author, Rev. S. H. Piatt, is a clear, 
able thinker, and a writer of some reputa- 
tion, and although he handles a delicate 
subject, his language is so well chosen 
and modest that we find nothing objec- 
tionable, as far as we have examined the 
book. We are sorry that we have not 
had time to give it a careful reading. 

We have long felt that if parents knew 
more of the physiological laws of their 
own being, and the appetites and tempt- 
ations that their children have to contend 
with, they would train them more intelli- 



142 



THE POWER OF OKACE. 



gently, and thousands who fall annually 
the victims of sinful appetites and pas- 
sion, would be saved. We advise parents 
to read this 'book. 

The following appeared (not as an ad- 
vertisement) in The Daily Standard^ of 
Bridgeport, Ct., April, 1874: 

We recall attention to the book lately 
published by Rev. S. H. Piatt, in order 
to publish some extracts from a letter 
written by a gentleman connected with 
the Associated Press of New York, which 
speaks for itself. Our only qualificatioji 
is that it is adapted to both sexes, and 
should be read by both. 

Dear Mr. Piatt : — In acknowledging the 
receipt of your unequaled lecture on 
''Princely Manhood," let me thank you 
for the soul feast I had in reading it. You 
have given, in my Judgment, the o\\\.j prac- 
tical solution of this much vexed question. 
Could I have but read this work years ago 
it would have shed much light on a dark 
pathway. I never supposed that from 
temptation you would evolve strength to 
resist temptation. This you have sub- 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 143 

stantially done. The more I think of it 
the stranger it seems to me that ministers 
of the gospel should so long have held 
their peace. This I can only regard as 
reprehensible in the extreme. Where 
the most light is needed^ there we find 
utter darTcness, The subject is mainly 
handled from mercenery motives by 
quacks and charlatans, who, with their 
illustrated works, but pour gunpowder 
into a magazine already on fire. 

I shall take great pains t:0:r^rculate 
this lecture and have already called at- 
tention to it through the press. Were I 
able I would place it in the hands of every 
young man able to receive the truth, and 
bid him find therein the firm yet gentle 
guidance his wavering soul is longing for. 

If your lecture to ladies'^ is half as ably 
gotten up, I think you owe it to a suffer- 
ing generation to place it in their hands 
as speedily as possible. 



* Referring to a work in preparation, called '' Queenly 
Womanhood," tor females only. 



144 THE POWER OF GRACE. 



CHAPTER III. 

TTie Power of Or ace in extirpating 
special Inborn Perversities. 



This subject is given the prominence of 
a distinct chapter, not because its im- 
portance merits it, but in order more forc- 
ibly to meet the excuse which so many 
are ready to urge, viz. : ''My habit is 
natural, I was born with it ; have had 
a craving for indulgence all my life," etc., 
as if this fact presented any insurmount- 
able barrier to reform. Undoubtedly, it 
is more difficult for one unaided by 
prayer to overcome, where the perversity 
is an evil heritage of the birth. But, in 
providing for human wants, God was not 
forgetlul of these inborn aptitudes and 
tendencies, which are counted among '' all 
your needs," that God will supply — see 
Phil. 4 : 19. 



THI: POWEB OF GBAOE. 145 

The careful reader may note, in many 
of the instances already detailed, e. g. pp. 
72-78, that the appetite or habit had existed 
from childhood, and yet deliverance was 
found. We have never yet heard of a 
case of complete and constant trust in 
Christ for help, without the requisite aid 
being realized ; and we hold it to be not 
only theologically but philosophically 
impossible that it should be otherwise. 
Let it be settled, then, once for all, that 
the prayer of faith attended^by suitable 
effort, will in every case extirpate inborn 
perversities, as such, and give peace to 
the soul. 



146 THE POWER OF aBACil. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Power of Grace in giving soul-rest 

in control of the Natural 

Appetites. 



Unlike perversities, the natural appe- 
tites are not to be expunged. They are 
good in their sphere, and their legitimate 
indulgence need never form a hindrance 
to spiritual development. But they must 
be under the control of Christian motives. 

As servants they are not to be despised, 
but as masters they become perversities 
which must be destroyed. 

The appetite for food, and the sexual 
impulse, are all that need to be named in 
this connection; and the last only to refer 
the reader again to ' 'Princely Manhood ' ' 
for full information. 



THE POWER OF aRACE. 147 

As civilization progresses in any race, 
the arts, which are originated by and con- 
stitute a part of the development, create 
a troop of artificial wants, often more 
pressing as they are more numerous than 
our natural wants. 

Among these, the culinary art has ever 
held a high place; and luxurious living 
has been its concomitant. The gustatory 
appetite, pampered by trained indulgence 
from the very cradle, becomes almost in- 
satiable, until people seem to,^ive to eat," 
rather than ''eat to live."^^T['he conse- 
quence is diseases of divers forms, pro- 
ducing more or less mental depression and 
nervous irritability, both acting unfavor- 
ably upon the religious character. 

The Sacred Book classes gluttons with 
wine bibbers, undoubtedly upon the prin- 
ciple that ''diseased or depressed condi- 
tions of the bod}^ do, in a large measure, 
affect and determine our quality of 
thoughts, and our quality of thoughts 
determines our quality of purpose in life." 
Says Dr. J. C. Jackson, (Gluttony Plague, 
p. 24.) 

"It is not surprising to me that Chris- 



148 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

tiansare so cold, formal, and unimpiilsive 
as they are. It is obvious wliy they 
should be so. They are so gross in bodily 
appetite, and so indulgent in the sphere 
of the passions, that the descent of the 
Holy Spirit is impossible under its ordi- 
nary plan of approach to the human soul. 
A vast majority of Christians, simply be- 
cause of bad habits in physical life, go 
for years with no glowing light from the 
Divine finding its way into their souls. 
They live in the shadow of that light alto- 
gether. Its rays reach them when their 
healing is spent. They are conscious of 
this, and they seek relief in rites and ob- 
servances, and a quarterly recast of their 
theological belief. Some of them get so 
far away as to mistake their creed for 
their Christ, and to rest their hope that 
their correctness of belief will answer in 
lieu of purity of life. But their efibrts 
are of no avail. They are dying at the 
HEART. And while the Saviour pities. He 
is powerless. They have a darling habit 
which they have kept back — a part of 
them which they have not made over — 
and this it is which eats like a canker into 



THE POWER OF GRACE. 149 

their souls and makes them spiritually 
impotent. For myself I would rather be 
the agent by whom the Christians of the 
United States should be induced to eat 
AND DRINK AND DRESS to the glory of 
God, than to set in motion any plan for 
the world's redemption of which I can 
now imagine. It is a settled point with 
me, that the great indifference to physical 
laws, or as we term them, the Laws of Life, 
which the redeemed show, the impunity 
with which they are violated, jthe almost 
universal substitution of holy^esifes and 
pious aims in the future, foi consecrated 
life in the present, is a mighty obstacle in 
His way who is yet to be King of Nations 
as He is King of Saints." 

But if the Saviour be ''powerless" while 
"apart of them" is not "made over," 
He is not powerless when once the appe- 
tite is consecrated to Him. We once 
knew a minister who, from childhood, had 
been excessively fond of pastry of 
nearly all kinds. At length he became 
convinced that indulgence was detri- 
mental to his health, and promptly re- 
fused the enjoyment. But he found that 



150 THE POWER OF GRACE. 

the sight of the luxury created such a 
craving as to be disagreeable and often led 
him to break over his self- prescribed 
limitations 

This induced him to pray for the re- 
moval of the craving, and it was done, so 
that the objects of previous desire were 
no longer a temptation. 

Unquestionably, his experience in this 
regard may be the experience of every one 
who finds his "easily besetting sin" upon 
the ta le of Providential Mercies. 

It is not our purpose to go into the de- 
tails of dietetic science, and show the obvi- 
ous departures from its dicta, in the com- 
mon practice of the people, but, simply 
to proclaim, with all the emphasis that 
the truths already uttered can impart, 
that the most thorough self control is at- 
tainable. Not only so, but the most rigid 
regimen of the extreme dietarians is en- 
joyable beyond the common indulgences 
of the table, by reason of the added zest 
of a healthful appetite, and the pleasur- 
able workings of a mind unclogged by an 
over- supply of nutriment, and the pres- 



THE POWEE OF GRACE. 151 

ence of waste material that should have 
been excreted. 

In adducing the evidence now before the 
reader, the several criteria named upon 
pp. 7, 8, by which to estimate the value 
of testimony, have been kept in view, 
and it is believed that an array ol facts 
is here presented which cannot fail to con- 
vince every unprejudiced mind. 

The responsibility of acting in accord- 
ance with this conviction now devolves 
upon the reader. 

Desiring to be helpful as feFa;& possible 
to his efforts at self-improvement, we ap- 
pend a sermon, which has been a blessing 
to many, as an appropriate conclusion to 
this treatise. 



The Wondrous Name. 



SERMON 



Preacled at tie Messlal Camp Meeting, Milford, Conn., Aug. 15, 1873. 



By 

REV. S. H. PLATT, A. M., 



Author of " The Gift of Power," " Christ and Adornments," " The 

Philosophy of Christian Holiness," "Christian Separation 

from the World," "The Man of Like Passions," "The 

Christian Law of Giving," " Princely Manhood," Etc. 



THIRD EDITION. 



Brooklyn, N, Y. 
HARRISON fit OO. 

18T4. 



INTRODUCTION. 



On the 1st of September, 1865, the author preached 
upon the Milf ord Camp Ground, and by unanimous re- 
quest of the Ministers present, the Sermon was pub- 
lished as " The Philosophy of Christian Holiness," 
and the entire edition of twenty -three hundred copies 
was sold within three weeks after its issue. When the 
call was received for the publication of the present 
Sermon the author felt a degree of constraint to com- 
ply growing out of the singular sale and usefulness of 
that. Nor, can he do better now than to quote the 
concluding paragraphs from its introductory page : 

* ' But the question at once arose, whether it should 
be written, as nearly as might be, as it was preached, 
from the brief notes used — or whether it should be en- 
tirely remodeled and appear as a finished production. 
After much consideration it has been decided to re- 
produce it as a Sermon, in the belief that what- 
ever faults of arrangement, or otherwise, might thus 
be repeated, would be conpensated by its freshness and 
spirit. 

'* Such as it is, it goes forth with earnest prayer 
that its usefulness may answer the expectations of the 
brethren whose kind regards have given it being. " 

The '' Philosophy of Christian Holiness" is now in 
course of preparation for the press as a 12 mo. vol. 

S. H. Platt. 



THE WONDEOUS NAME. 



" Thou Shalt call his name Jesus ; for he shall save his people from 
their sins.— Matt. 1 : 21. 

AMois^a the Jews proper names were 
significant of. qualities, or commemorative 
of events. Esther — " beautiful," and 
Naomi — ''pleasant," are examples of the 
first class, while Jacob — ''^iupplanter," 
and Israel — ''prevailing," are of the sec- 
ond ; but, in the text both classes seem 
to be combined, for in the person of Jesus 
were the qualities of a Saviour, and in 
his life and death the event of Salvation 
was accomplished. "Thou shalt call his 
name Jesus ; for he shall save his people 
from their sins." 

We inquire then — 

I. Whom He would Save % And the 
answer is, "His people." But who are 
they ? Doubtless all those in whom his 
saving power could be consistently exer- 
cised. This includes — 



156 THE WONDEOUS ISTAME. 

Trusting Penitents, who, in self- 
abasement, exclaim with the poor publi- 
can, '' God, be merciful to me a Sinner ! " 
or cry out with the broken-hearted jailor, 
' ' What must I do to be saved ? " or, even 
tremulously answer, with the gleam ings 
of Hope amid Despair, ''No man. Lord !" 
in the language of the uncondemned 
Adulteress — made penitent and saved by 
matchless Mercy. 

Returning Wanderers, ''while yet a 
great way oft*,'' like the half-starved, 
home- sick, and sin- sick Prodigal, though 
yet in their rags, and their studied words 
of Confession yet unspoken, may find One 
falling "upon their necks and kissing 
them welcome to the old-time home, and 
the long true hearts of the once spurned, 
but now sought-for rest. 

Struggling Believers, who have 
awakened to the painful consciousness of 
inward perversities, strong leanings 
of the nature towards sinful thoughts and 
deeds, and who cry out, in the bewilder- 
ment of desperate soul wrestlings with 
self, "Who shall deliver me from the 
body of this death ? ' ' may surely listen 



THE WOISTDKOTTS KAME. 157 

hopefully to this Name- Gospel of the 
text, ''Thou shalt call his name Jesus, 
for he shall save his people from their 
sins!" 
But let us inquire more particularly — 
II. From What He Would Save 
Them? ''From their Sins." Sin is a 
wrong determination of a free will ; but, 
for the sake of impression, we will clas- 
sify sins mainly by the circumstances of 
their actual commission. The first species 
which we notice may be teraaed- Siks of 
Surprise ; as, when well circumstanced 
Solicitation comes suddenly into unex- 
pected adjustment with Desires already 
kindled, or with Inclinations on the alert 
for opportunity. Such was the experience 
of a friend of former years, who, after 
desperate struggles, was reformed from a 
life of inebriety. The fire-alarm hastily 
called him from his bed at an early hour 
of a bitter winter morning, to wrestle with 
the fire-fiend in his might, and nobly did 
he do his duty until his exhausted frame 
stood shivering in the blast, his clothes 
frozen into icy encasements upon him — 
then, just when a cup of strong coffee 



158 THE WoiNTBROIiS KAME. 

would have been strength and life, mis- 
guided friends passed the punch pail from 
hand to hand, and it came to his ; he 
tasted and fell ; fell as thousands stronger 
than he have fallen by the ignited spark 
of Solicitation dropping within the maga- 
zine of waiting passion ! Ah ! how few 
have been the deliverances that we have 
K^owK, amid the multitude that have 
been effected for us by a kindly watchful 
Providence, in shielding us from such Sins 
of Surprise ! 

The very best of us have been in ,am- 
bush often enough to have sealed us over 
for the pit had not God' s loving hand in- 
terposed just at the right juncture to 
snatch us from the peril, or to cover us 
when the arrows flew. Salvation is of 
God^s Hand in the circumstances of our 
Uves^ as well as of His Grace in the ex- 
perience of our hearts ! 

Again, There are Sijs^s of Yacillatio]^, 
arising chiefly from an unstable mental 
constitution, like that of Ephraim, ''Un- 
stable as water, thou shalt not excel ! " 
Some are born so unfortunately consti- 
tuted that they seem incapable of any 



THE WONDROUS NAME. 159 

fixed purpose of life, but are ever veering^ 
like weather-vanes, to every change of in- 
fluence that sweeps across them. It 
would be strange indeed, if such were not 
oft-times decoyed into forbidden paths. 
I was once on my way to visit such a man? 
who, the evening before had placed him. 
self among the penitents, when I was 
hailed by a member*. of my church who 
inquired where I was going. ' ' To see Mr. 

," said I. ^^ Oh ! well, you need not 

trouble yourself about him, forjf he gets 
converted he will backslide next summer. 
He has claimed to be converted fifteen 
times already." ''Well," said I, ''let us 
try him the sixteenth time, and perhaps 
the Lord will take him to heaven before 
he has time to backslide again." Sure 
enough, the next summer his old vacilla - 
tion returned, and was followed the suc- 
ceeding winter by a renewal of his efforts, 
and he Died in the Comforts of Faith 
before another summer came. That inci- 
dent taught me a lesson of charity towards 
the poor victims of mental instabilit)^, 
which has given me hope even in their 
seventeenth or seventieth eff*ort to seek 



160 THE WOISTDROITS Ts^AME. 

Him who has commanded ns to forgive 
unto the seventieth time. 

Next, we note Siisrs of Deficiei^cy ! — 
when the energies are too slothful, or the 
will is too timid to meet the emergencies 
of life. When opportunities that will 
never return are declined ; when duties 
brimming with Destiny are evaded ; and 
when Crosses planted in the pathway to 
crowns are not borne for want of a will 
that dares to attempt, or of energies with 
vigor to accomplish. 

Over against these Sins of Deficiency, 
at the opposite pole of experience, are 
Sii^s OF Excessive Activity ; as, when 
a single faculty usurps control over the 
mind and drives it in the direction of its 
own function until its normal sphere is 
transcended, and some degree of perver- 
sion ensues. Thus, mirthf ulness becomes 
levity by excess ; moral discriminations, 
assuming judgeship, degenerate into cen- 
soriousness ; the social propensities fly 
off, in a fever of indulgence, into the pas- 
sion of sociality ; acquisitiveness withers 
into miserly greed, and even conscientious- 



THE WOoS^DKOUS ]S^A3IE. 161 

ness, super-sensitive, becomes an unspar- 
ing hand of scourges to its possessor. 

Closely in tlie wake of Sins of Excess, 
and partaking largely of their nature, are 

SliS^S OF PeKYERTED JUDOMEISTT. As, 

when the competing claims of worldly 
and religious interests are deliberately 
settled in favor of business rather than of 
religious services, and the tide of secu- 
larity is permitted to roll, from Monday 
morning till Saturday midnight unchecked 
by a single hour of spiritual exercise, un- 
til its mere momentum proje^tiTt far into 
the thoughts of the Sabbath rest. As, 
when Prudence and Consistency are des- 
poiled of all their charms, that Fashion may 
be decked in stolen drapery and walk be- 
side the altars of the Lord beguiling his 
sons and daughters into the paths of vanity 
and pride. As, when the solemn vows 
and obligations of baptism and church 
communion are nullified by the world-in- 
spired opinions of a Laodicean piety, and 
a Christ-dishonoring judgment gives ver- 
dict in favor of the treachery. 

Then come Sins of Pkocliyity, when 
the bent of the nature crowds toward 



162 THE WO]S^DEOUS ISTAME. 

some specific indulgence, either because 
of its constitutional make-up, that is — the 
relative poise of its several parts ; or be- 
cause of some inheritance of evil by which 
the particular tendency has been implanted 
as an inborn habit of the mind. In either 
case it is the * ' easily besetting sin' ' that 
has become matter of painful experi- 
ence to multitudes who are in quest of a 
purer life. 

Si]s^s OF AcQUiEED Habits throug all 
the avenues of life ; and whether the pro- 
duct of excessive development of natural 
functions, such as irritability, vanity, 
gluttony, lust, &c., or, the result of vol- 
untary abnormal perversions, as in the 
appetite for Rum, Tobacco, Opium, &c. — 
in either case its persistent influence 
haunts like a spectre, clings like a relent- 
less pain, and holds with a grip of such 
tremendous power that it unmans manli- 
ness, dethrones the sovereignty of will, 
and threatens to abjure the power of grace 
itself. 

Scarcely less to be deplored are — Sixs 
OF THE Physical Orovais^ism, from some 
peculiar condition of tissue, blood, or 



THE WONDROtJS KAME. 163 

nerve. As when over- stimulated combat- 
iveness plants itself in the attitude of hos- 
tility ; a conjested liver breeds doubts and 
despondency ; over- wrought nerves beget 
irritability, and the processes of animal 
life inspire lustful desire. Of these, and 
of all their kin, it is said, "Sin when it is 
conceived, bringeth forth death." Yet 
they entail guilt, and are death -producing 
only when their impulsions are indorsed 
by the will, then sijst is conceived. But 
how easy the transition ! H^w; great the 
probability of a flame when the spark 
kindles the combustibles of the physical 
organism ! What then can be done ? 
Hark ! Away amid the Gralilean hills, an 
angel, radiant with the light of heaven, 
bends over the couch of the sleeping Jo- 
seph and bids him, ' ' Fear not to take 
unto thee Mary thine espoused, for that 
which is conceived in her is of the Holy 
Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, 
and thou shalt call his name Jesus ; for 
he shall save his people from their sins." 

If this be true — 

III. Upon what terms will he save 
them ? 



164 THE WOI^DEOUS NAME. 

First there must be Absolute Submis- 
sion. ''Whosoever will be my disciple, 
let him deny himself and take np his cross 
and follow me." Battle array broken ; 
colors struck ; arms grounded ; — uncon- 
ditional surrender first ! ! Then — 

Second, Unreserved Consecration. 
' 'Render unto Caesar the things that be Cse • 
sar's, and unto God the things that be 
God's. — Luke 20:25. Do you ask what are 
his? ' 'Ye are not your own, for ye are bought 
with a price ; therefore glorify God in 
your body, and in your spirit, which are 
God's.— 1 Cor. 6: 19-20. Body and 
spirit have been bought with a price ! 
Body and spirit belong to God ! He claims 
his own ; and consecration without re- 
servation honors the claim ; but it must 
be a giving away of self so completely 
that not even the right to take back the gift 
is retained, then does it become the " liv- 
ing SACRIFICE holy and acceptable un- 
to God, which is your reasonable service." 

Then comes. Third, Corresponding 
Appropriation. Without faith it is im- 
possible to please Him ; for he that 
Cometh to God must believe that He is, 



THE WOIN^DEOUS NAME. 165 

and that He is the rewaedee of them 
that diligently seek Him." — Heb. 11 : 6. 
They who seek Grod in thorough submission 
and entire consecration do unquestionably 
' ' DiLiGEKTLY Seek Him ' ' What, then, 
is their eewaed ? As unquestionably as 
before — the object of their search — God. 
But He is apprehended only by faith ; 
hence, an appropriation by faith corres- 
ponding with the gift rendered to Him, is the 
next legitimate step ! For, if consecration 
has any value, it conditionates acceptance. 
Hence CoREESPOi^DiJ^^a AppSopEiATioisr 
means reliance upon Him to take all 
that consecration gives, and just when 
it gives, and just as loko as it gives ! ! 
This done, and there must be — 

Fourth, CoKTiiN^TJOUs CLij^aiisra ! Reli- 
ance perpetuated by repeated acts of will, 
as life is prolonged by successive acts of 
breathing. ''Ye have need of patiekce, 
that after ye have done the will of God, 
ye might receive the promise. — Heb. 10: 
36. Clinging to him in the consciousness 
of having done his will by submission, 
and consecration, and appropriation, you 
are to keep on clinging until your patience 



166 THE WOIS^DROUS :^rAME. 

is rewarded by the promised baptism of 
the Holy Ghost giving assurance and joy. 

But, if we do all that He requires — 

IV. To what extent will He save ? 

First — To THE Boundaries of His own 
Munificence ! 

Creation, preservation, redemption, and 
salvation reveal its breadth and height. 

He creates like a god ! 

He speaks, and worlds roll forth from 
his hand and range into systems, and sys- 
tems marshal into the ranks of the uni- 
verse, — the first as numberless as the last 
is limitless, and all flashing in the dewy 
splendors of creation's morn, reveal the 
munificence of His creating power. 

He upholds like a God ! 

Through all the realms of nature, causes 
fail not to run into effects, laws cease not 
their sovereign sway, life's countless 
forms emerge in beauty from the shades 
of death, and all the processes of vitality, 
in wondrous combination roll their rounds 
of marvelous adjustment, till earth and 
air and sky are flooded with the harmo- 
nies of being. Oh, the munificence of 
Nature' s God ! 



THE WOKDROUS NAME. 167 

Yon apple-tree asked for a thousand 
apples, and Nature decked it witli a 
million blossoms, each germinal of 
fruit. This forest asked for leaves, and 
this beautiful dome of living green was 
deftly spread by unseen hands upon the 
boughs till every twig danced for very 
joy. The fields ask for herbage, and they 
are carpeted with grass till velvet lawns 
and verdant meadows evoke the sports of 
childhood, and reward the sons of toil. 
Life asks for air, and an ^rial Ocean 
eleven times higher than the^ highest 
mountain on which life dares to dwell is 
God's answering supply. The earth asks 
for sunbeams, and they come blazing 
through the depths of space, shimmering 
amid our leafy canopy, gleaming across 
our pathway, shooting into dells, and 
glancing from mountain peaks till the 
very heavens are all aglow with the fiery 
radiance. 

Nor is this all. For yonder sun is not 
so niggardly as to bless our earth alone. 
No ! No ! On every sidp: — far out into 
the regions of infinite space, wherever the 
swift wings of Light can cleave the un- 



168 THE WOlS^DROrS XAME. 

broken darkness of immensity, there the 
sun pours his ceaseless tides of golden 
glory till the Universe is aflame with his 
munificence of splendor. Faint emblem of 
the munificence of its God I 

He REDEE3IS LIKE A GOD ! 

He might have been content with furnish- 
ing redemption for Adam and Eve alone, 
or for a certain favored few of their de- 
scendants. But no ! He would cover the 
earth with tribes and nations, till a count- 
less generation should cry out of the 
depths of their sinful wretchedness for 
help ! He would roll generation after 
generation through their brief space of 
life, until the steady tramp of the Ages 
halts at the bivouac of judgment, and 
the myriads of earth's sons respond to the 
roll call of Eternity — and then challenge 
the Spirit of Evil to point to a siin-gle o^e 
not redeemed with blood I Oh, the lavish 
wealth of Redeeming Love ! I 

" Lord, I believe were sinners more 
Than sands upon the Ocean shore, 
Thou hast for each a ransom paid.— 
For all a full atonement made !" 

And He Saves like a God ! 
Redemption is provisional ; salvation 



THE WOISTDROUS IS^AME. 169 

is efficient. Consisting in a marvelous 
moral reconstruction, with a contempo- 
raneous external revolution — too mighty 
for any inferior power, too precious for 
any lesser love, too glorious for any 
sullied purity. 

Salvation in its nature is divine ! And 
of its extent we read — ''He is able to save 
unto the uttermost!" Let us read that 
again. To be saved is a glorious thing 
— almost surpassing human J)elief ; but 
here is a measure given. Nof^liiy will 

he save, but ' ' He will save unto ' ^ 

what ? My wish % My sense of need ? 
No, not that ; — beyond that, for that may 
fall far short of my real necessity — Uistto 
THE Uttermost ! 

Unto the utter is the left hand bound- 
ary of WANT ! Unto the most is the right 
hand boundary of isteed ! But utter and 
MOST — both superlatives — are here con- 
joined into oisTE coMPOUis^D SUPER- 
SUPERLATIVE to express all possibili- 
ties of need lying between the center and 
the circumference of probationary exist 
ence I Oh, how language groans to 



170 THE WOISTBROUS ISTAME. 

express the munificence of God's salva- 
tion ! 

But Paul does not stop here. He gives 
another turn to the rack, and tortures out 
another conglomeration of qualifying 
words which crown him as the very king of 
sublime and glorious expression. Listen ! 
'^'Grod is able." Take care, good Paul; 
he who launches out upon God' s Ability, 
has a far-off shore to reach before he can 
bound it, and tell its sum ! But hear 
with what unfaltering tones he rings out 
— ''God is able to make grace abolwd." 
Yes, yes, we know that, blessed be His 
Name ! (But stop ! A word has fallen 
out.) ''God is able to make all grace 
abound toward you." Hallelujah ! 
That is glorious! "all grace?" that 
must be grace in sufficient measure, and 
for every extremity. Yes, and it 
"abounds !" There is not only enough, 
but an overflow, — a surplusage — munifi- 
cence of supply! "Hold!" I seem to 
hear Paul saying, "Don't go off in 
ecstacies yet ; wait until I finish. Hear 
now ! " — " God is able ' ' — (That is so good 
that he has to repeat it every time) — "to 



THE WONDROUS NAME. 171 

make all grace abound toward you ; that 
ye always" — having sufficiency ? No ! 
'' having ALL SUFFICIENCY in ALL 
THINGS MAY ABOUND to EVERY 
GOOD WORK." Enough, my Lord, 
enough ! Thou dost save like a God ! 

Second. He saves to the limits of 
HUMAN NEED. That need is indicated by 
the sinfulness of the needy one. Here 
are the Sukpeised Ones who once wore 
the crown of moral worth, and rejoiced in 
an integrity unsullied as tha^^^sain, but in 
an unexpected hour they fell, and great 
was the fall ! But a okeater Saviour 
we proclaim to-day ; one who ' ' knoweth 
how to deliver out of temptation," and 
clothe in an armor in which ye " shall be 
able to stand against the wiles of the 
devil," while, for all your past. He will 
'* forgive its iniquity, transgression, and 
sin." 

Here are Unstable Ones — tossed to-day 
upon the tide of religious influence, 
to-morrow drifting oflf upon the eddying 
flood of worldliness — anon stranded waifs 
awaiting another freshet season to bear 
them onward toward the haven. Hear 



172 THE WOKDEOUS ISTAME. 

ye ! ''In returning and rest shall ye be 
saved ; in quietness and in confidence 
shall be your strength." — Isa. 30 : 15. 

Here are Timid and Laggard Oistes — 
the one too fearful, and the other too in- 
dolent to reap the golden harvests of 
ripened opportunity, and garner the 
blessed sheaves of G-od' s confiding Provi- 
dence. Listen, ye fearful! ''He it is 
that doth go before thee. He will be w^ith 
thee; fear not, neither be dismayed. — 
Deut. 81 : 8. 

Hear, and tremble, O ye laggard ones ! 
' ' Strive to enter in at the straight gate, 
for many shall seek to enter, and shall 
not be able." "Except your righteous- 
ness exceed the righteousness of the 
Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case 
enter into the kingdom of heaven." 

Here are STRAYiisra 0:n^es — who plunge 
into excesses of levity, censoriousness, 
sociality, &c., till their lives are spotted 
all over with inconsistencies, their eyes 
are blurred to all glorious prospects, and 
their hearts barred from all triumphant 



THE WOl^DROUS KA3IE. 173 

joy, while a weeping Saviour plaintively 
pleads — '' If tliou wouldest seek unto God 
betimes, and make thy supplication unto 
the Almighty ; if thou wert pure and up- 
right, surely now he would awake for thee, 
and make the habitation of thy righteous- 
ness prosperous." — Job, 8 : 5. And the in- 
spiring spirit cheerily proclaims, ''I will 
teach you the good and the right way; only 
fear the Lord, and love him in truth with 
all thine heart ; for consider how great 
things he hath done for :you.l' — 1 Sam. 
12 : 23. 

Here are Wordly Biassed Ones — so 
steeped in the narcotizing power of greed, 
that, like tobacco slaves, they cling to 
their disgusting quid rather than suck the 
luscious peach of week-day religious ser- 
vices of prayer and song, and their per- 
verted judgments endorse their preference, 
and justify their iniquity ! They are 
"turned aside like a deceitful bow," and 
of them God says, "Because ye are 
turned away from the Lord, therefore the 
Lord will not be with you." — Numb. 
14 : 43. 



174 THE WONDROUS ISTAME. 

Here are those witli iis^born perversi- 
ties — proclivities to evil so reprobate 
that they seem begotten of the devil, and 
hunger, like death, for pollution ; pro- 
clivities that so take hold on hell, that at- 
traction and affinity and momentum all 
impel with infernal power toward the pit. 
Hear ! ye fiend- crowded, passion- goaded 
victims, hear ! ! The strong hand of om- 
nipotent arrest is by your side, the spir- 
it of Divine assurance pulses in the air, 
while, sweetly as tlie voice of benediction 
soundeth in your ears, ''My grace is suf- 
ficient for thee ; for my strength is made 
perfect in weakness." — 2 Cor. 12 : 9. 

Here are Habit-Enslaved Ones — some 
in the mad whirl of an excitement as un- 
reasoning as it is unfearing ; some hug- 
ging their manacles of steel, and delusive- 
ly deeming them golden symbols of royal- 
ty ; some yielding protestingly, like over- 
persuaded virtue in the arms of vice ; some 
chafing like caged lions against their bars; 
and others breaking desperately out of 
their environments like spring freshets 
over confining banks, only to subside to a 



THE WONDEOITS NAME. 175 

hopeless imprisonment again ; all, fet- 
tered and enslaved, yet fit subjects of an 
emancipation, richer and more glorious 
than ever emblazoned the page of secular 
history, and found only in those finite 
clingings to the Infinite which exclaim, 
''I can do all things through Christ 
strengthening me !" — Phil. 4 : 13 

Here are victims of Diseased or Per- 
verted Oroaistizatioks, — hanging a pall 
of despondency over the eajzth^ and veiling 
out the glories of the sky By tlie mists of 
doubt ; or, irritable as the charged battery 
answering with a spark of fire to every 
adverse touch, or lusting, like the open 
grave to find their fill of pollution, — 
goaded, lashed, frenzied, hell-struck by 
desire, — the barriers of judgment worn 
down by mere attrition, conscience worried 
out by ceaseless strife, the opposition of 
the better nature trampled beneath the 
heels of the massed charge of wild, rampant 
passion ! Good heavens, what a life ! 
But hark ! The glorious old Apostle to 
the Gentiles — (those people steeped in 
corruption and rotten to the core,) is ready 



176 THE WOKDROUS KAME. 

for US as well as for them, as lie hurls 
across the seething gulf of human perver- 
sities the God-given assurance. (1 Cor. 1 : 
13.) ''God is FAITHFUL who will not 
sujffier you to be tempted above that ye 
are able ; but will, with the temptation, 
also MAKE A WAY TO ESCAPE, that ye may 
be able to bear it." 

*' Make way for liberty !'' was the com- 
manding challenge of Switzerland's noble 
son, as he gathered in his arms and 
cushioned in his heart a score of the 
thirsty spear-points of his country' s em- 
battled foes. 

Liberty rushed through the broken 
ranks of leveled weapons, and Switzer- 
land was free ! ! 

''Make a way to escape !" was the sen- 
timent of the dying Son of God as he 
bared his heart to all the barbed darts of 
darkness ; and charging ranks of deliver- 
ance have ever since swept through that 
breach to the rescue of the trusting, 
tempted ones ! 

Now, I proclaim to all whom sin has 
blighted, and guilt has cursed, — a name, 



THE WONDROUS NAME. 177 

a Jewish name ! with meaning in every 
letter, and a world of significance in its 
whole — Jesus^ Jesus, JESUS ! 

Hear his promise by Isaiah (43: 12. 
''Fear not, for I have redeemed thee ; I 
have called thee by thy kame " — (Blessed 
particularity of application !) ''Thou art 
mine, ' ' (Glorious assurance ! ) ' ' When 
thou passest through the waters I will be 
with thee, ' ' (Precious company ! ) ' ' And 
through the rivers, they shall not over- 
flow thee ;" (Restful promise !) " When 
thou walkest through the^fire, thou shalt 
not be burned," (Divine protection !) 
''Neither shall the flame kindle upon 
thee !" Hallelujah ! Like the three He- 
brew children there shall not be even the 
smell of fire upon our garmets ! Glory be 
to God ! Ah ! Paul has found his match 
at last ? That regal old Prophet of Israel 
plucked fire from Heaven when he caught 
the inspiration of that peerless promise 
OF THE AGES. But liold ! We do the 
Apostle an injustice. Let him try ; and 
here he comes swinging God's Ability 
once more as his battle- ax of promise for 
the world, and his clear tones ring out 



178 THE WONDROUS NAME. 

most jubilantly — ''He is able." (What 
an emphasis he puts upon that word able !) 
''to do all that we ask." There, he is 
BROADER than Isaiah, already ; "or 
THINK I" Now he soars, and is almost 
out of sight, but he drops a qualifying 
word. "He is able to do above all that 
we ask or think." But tell us, dear Paul, 
that we may see how like a God he saves, 
tell us, how much above ? And now he 
bends those climacteric pinions toward us 
just enough to launch forth one of those 
infinite words of his — ''Abundantly 
ABOVE !" O, my soul ! catch a glimmering, 
if thou canst, of the majestic, boundless 
amplitude of his Ability ! Quickly ! 
for Paul' s lips move once more, and now 
the very heavens rend with the expansion 
of the thought, and through the rift we 
seem to see the infinite pulsations of Je- 
hovah' s might as Paul claps the crown 
upon the climax — " ZT^ is able to do above 
all iTiat we can ask or tJiink^ EXCEED- 
ING ABUNDANTLY." 

Who can wonder, now, that he throws 
in, as a sort of practical deduction, — that 
audacious prayer ! " And the very God 



THE W0^^DE0U5 >'A3IE. 179 

of peace sanctify yon wholly : and I pray 
God your whole spirit and soul and body 
be preserved blameless unto the coming 
of our Lord Jesus Christ I" — 1 Thess. o : 
23-24. 

If, then, He will thus save — 

Y. Wken will He sate i 

Fii'st, Just when you comply with the 
terms. 

*'This is the confidence that we have in 
him, that if we ask anything according to 
his will,'* (and certainly ^^king for salva- 
tion in compliance with his terms is 
" according to his will,") ''he heareth us I 
and if we know that he hears us, whatso- 
ever we ask, we know that we HAVE the 
petitions that we desire of him.'' — 1 John 
5 : 14-15. 

If this be not enough, behold Paul's 
new setting of that gem of Old Testament 
assurance — ''I have heard thee in the time 
accepted ; in the day of salvation I have 
succored thee : behold, now is the time ac- 
cepted, TO-DAY is the day of salvation.'' 

The sunlight struggling at the closed 
shutters ; the home- sick school- boy wait- 
ing the word — "Come home!'' the con- 



180 THE WONDROUS NAME. 

valescent soldier with a furlough in his 
hand ; the imprisoned convict tear-blinded 
and trembling at news of executive par- 
don — these need no prompting ! Throw 
wide the barriers^ and the sunlight leaps 
joyfully to fill every crevice with its smile ; 
''My boy come home I" — written upon the 
top of the page, and not even Father' s let- 
ter will be read through before the boy is 
ready for the start. 

So, Jesus Christ waits no second invi- 
tation ! Hurl away the barriers ; call out 
— ''Come in!" — and, quicker than the 
lightning's flash, the Godhead's strug- 
gling Love shall fill, illuminate, and save I 

Are you submissive now ? Haul down 
the colors of pride, and " Come out from 
among them and be ye separate." 

Do you consecrate now ? It is noth- 
ing less than purposed devotion of heart 
and service to God, from this instant — f or- 
evermore. It is the use of every faculty 
in its rightful functions, for His glory. 
You have a faith faculty. In the gift 
of all to Him, have you included this? 
If so, it must be exercised believingly 



THE WOISTDROUS ISTAME. 181 

THIS mome:n^T5 for that is its legitimate and 
most sacred function. 

You have given all to Him ; now, it is 
the crowning act of consecration — rather, 
it is the first legitimate act springing from 
a consecrated state, to believe that He ac- 
cepts all that you give. It is faith-faculty 
in consecrated use ! 

Do you then — appropriate just now? 
God asked the gift. You made it, and 
now lie unresisting in His hands. 

Will He, CAN He stanS^holding your 
guilty, sin-stained soul in the hollow of 
His palm, looking at it on every side, but 
Doiisra isroTHiNG for it ? No ! No ! A 
thousand times No ! All the instincts of 
His purity, all the promptings of His love, 
all the impulses of His truthfulness impel 
Him INSTANTLY to pluuge beneath the 
cleansing Blood every polluted soul thus 
helpless and expectant in his hands. 
Away, then, with doubt ! A soul con- 
sciously given to God through all its 
known powers and susceptibilities is 

SAVED THEN AND THERE to the full exteut 

of the consecration itself. 
There may be, just then, no sensible 



182 THE WOJS^DROUS NAME. 

change, no manifested evidence, but as 
surely as its saved state is assumed by 
faith, without other evidence than the 
promise of God and its own conscious 
fulfillment of the conditions of acceptance, 
so surely will the event justify its confi- 
dence. 

Secondly, He saves just as loistg as 
you comply with the terms. Do you 
now submit and consecrate yourselves ? 
Then let Paul speak for you yet again — 
''I know whom I have believed, and am 
persuaded that He is able." (How he 
rings the changes on God's ability !) ''To 
KEEP that which I have committed unto 
Him against that day." 

Are you appeopriathn^g ? Let Isaiah 
speak once more — ''Israel shall be saved 
in the Lord with an everlastino Salva- 
tion, ye shall not be ashamed or coisr- 

FOUNDED WORLD WITHOUT END !" — Chap. 

45 : 12. 

Are you clustoino ? The kingly Prophet 
has words of cheer. "Thou wilt keep 
him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed 
ON THEE, because he trusteth in thee. 
Trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the 



^HE WONDROUS ISTAME. 183 

Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." — 
Isa. 26 : 3-4. 

" But I am only clinging ! " cries a timid 
one — " That promise is for those who are 
STAYED on Him!" Granted; but good 
old Isaiah has not delved in the mines of 
divine thought so long without finding a 
promise cut and carved expressly for the 
clinging. Listen ! '' Fear thou not, for I 
am with thee, be not dismayed for I am 
thy Grod ; I will strengthenihee ; yea, I 
will HELP thee, yea, I will UPHOLD thee 
with the right hand of my righteousness." 
—Isa. 41 : 10. 

What better can the shipwrecked sailor 
ask, while clinging to the life-boat, than 
to be STRE:^raTHENED and upheld and 
HELPED? And the effect of God's up- 
holdings is precisely what your hearts are 
groaning after. Hear Isaiah once more — 
' ' The work of righteousness shall be peace, 
and the effect of righteousness — quietness 
and assurance forever ! " — Isa. 32 : 17. 

Here, clinging one, is a resting place, 
secure and satisfying, for Paul comes 
around again declaring — "He hath said, 
I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee !" 



184 THE WONDROUS NAME. 

— Heb. 13 : 5. And, to make assurance 
doubly sure, The Psalmist chimes in — 
^^The Lord shall preserve thee from all 
evil ; he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord 
shall preserve thy ooing out, and thy 
coMiisrG IN, from this time forth, and 
even FOREVERMORE ! ! ! ''— Psa. 121 : 
7-8. 

Now, let us harness submission, con- 
secration, appropriation, and clinging be- 
fore the chariot of this blood bought op- 
portunity, and puting the reins in the 
hands of faith, drive to the skies over the 
'^ highway of holiness cast up" (above the 
mire of earth, and the pollutions of sin) 
'' for the ransomed of the Lord." " His 
name shall be called Jesus ^ for he shall 
save his people from their sins P^ 

Come ye bruised and mangled ones, — 
scathed and scorched by the fires of pas- 
sion, smitten and withered by guilt, and 
longing after rest. Come to Jesus ! 

And ye, aspring ones, — heart sick with 
a life so inferior to your ideal, — shrinking 
from the clammy touch of a pollution 
that is ''flesh of your flesh," and with a 
great inward void acliing with unutterable 



THE WONDROUS NAME. 185 

longings to be filled with God, — come to 
Jesns ! Come one, come all, and wMle 
your Past rolls under the blood, and your 
Present clings to the uplifted Christ, 
spread your Future out broadly upon the 
Divine promises, and standing beside the 
Cross, lift up your voices in the supreme 
confidence of Isaiah' s faith when he ex- 
claimed — (chap. 50:7) ''The Lord God 
will help me, therefore shall I not be con- 
founded ; therefore have I set my face 
like a flint, and I knoav that" i shall 

NOT BE ASHAMED ! " 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



Elijah, the Tishbite. 



BY REV. S. H. PLATT, A. M 



AUTHOR OF 



•The Gift of Power," etc. 



The grandest life in Ancient History was that of the 
Tishbite Prophet. This is a pen-portrait of that Man of 
Fire, drawn in colors vivid as the lightnings of his mount- 
ain home, and revealing the sources of his power, and the 

GLORY of his CHARACTER. 

It is a MIGHTY INSPIRATION toward the noblest type of 
manhood, and the loftiest ideal of Christian excellence ! 

A critic, charmed with its style, has pronounced it 

* 'a PROSE POEM." 

Fifty-four pages, printed on superfine, double calendered, 
best quality of tinted book paper. 

Sent to any address, post-paid, for 20 cents, by 

S. HARRISON & CO., 

Brooklyn, N. Y. 



ADVEBTISEMENTS. 



Princely Manhood. 



A Priyate Treatise on the Proereative In- 
stinct, as Related to Moral and 
Christian Life. 



FOE ADULTS ONLT-OF BOTH SEXES. 



BY 

EEV. S. H. PLATT.^^J^. 

Author of "The Gift of Power;" "Christ and Adornments;" 
" Christain Separation from the World;" " The Philosophy of 
Christian Holiness;" "The Man of Like Passions;" "To 
Every Man his Work;" "The Christian Law of Giv- 
ing;" "The Wondrous Name;" "The Power of 
Grace," etc. 

This is a work of rare interest and value to every 
adtdt There are hwtfeio who do not need it, and all 
may be greatly profited by it. It fills a sphere hitherto 
unoccupied. '^ Happiness and salvation for tico worlds are 
in its pages ! 

Husbands and wives should procure it for each 
other ; the bethrothed should receive it from parents ; 
brothers and sisters should present it to each other ; 
friends should hand it to friends ; pastors should put it 
into the hands of converts ; teachers should advise its 
perusal by adult pupils. — Such is tlie verdict of tlwught- 
fid and unprejudiced minds. 

Sent post-paid to any address, for 50 cents ; muslin 
60 cents, by 

S. HARRISON & CO., Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Publishers of Rev. S. H. Piatt's Works. 



INDEX TO PRINCELY MANHOOD. 



PAGE. 

Appetite— Sexual, most craving 7 

'* instruct children concerning 97 

** knowledge of will come 97 

Aduljtery 39 

Abstinence, amative, pleasure of 81 

Aim, singleness of in christian life 65 

Affections, mmistered to in copulation 9 

Amativeness has legitimate sphere 45, 47 

** size of the organ in childhood and 

maturity !49, 53 

^' early ripening of 50 

Appetites, may be mastered by grace .101 

Brain disease from self -abuse 21 

Bible-doctrine concerning sex 38 

'' Burn," 41 

Bondage of Christian life to sexuality 66 

Ballet panders to pollution 101 

Continence, contented 110 

Consecration of generative functions 91, 107 

Conservation of mental and physical energies, 93 

Cleanliness important 107 

Consecration of Faculties 66 

Christian life, in its elements 65 

'* ** ** " longings and strivings 66 

** '* '* Possibilities of, 67 



INDEX TO PKIXCELY MAX HOOD. 

PAGE 

Conception, avoiding 12 

Continence 40 

" Cannot contain," 42 

Connubial rights, reciprocal 43 

Conjugal obligation 43 

Continence, gift of 40 

Desire should be made impersonal. 108 

Desires, excitement of to be avoided 102 

Directions, practical to the married 101 

" '' '' unmarried 105 

Devotedness to God increased 94 

Delirium-tremens of lust 54 

Digestive ailments from self -abuse 21 

Divorce, 38 

Desires, sexual, not enemies r^^np^^^ 87 

Experience, Lessons of 48 

Excesses, Matrimonial 31 

" diseases from 33 

cause loss of love 34 

beget puny children 35 

Eunuchs, natural 39 

' ' mutilated 39 

voluntarily continent 40 

Enticing reveries 105 

Fornication, to avoid H 

Faith in Christ as a present Saviour 91 

Genital disease from self-abuse 20 

Grace, course of in sexuality 90 

Healed, by faith 78 

Harmony of sexual instinct with Purity 85 

how attained 80 

" preserved tU 

result of 92 



INDEX TO PllIXCELY MANTIOOD. 

PAGE 

Information, sexual, where found 4 

Instinct, sexual, explained 6 

" " design of 9 

^' perversions of 15 

" ' ' Bible doctrine of 38 

Indulgence, God to be glorified in 105 

exposure in . . : 29 

thoughts of not allowed 81 

must minister to affection 104 

Inefficiency, spiritual, resulting from the warfare 

against desire 55 

Inheritance, conditions of safe 95 

Licentiousness, power of 24 

hopelessness of 25 

" fearful risks of . . . . 26 

Lust, look of forbidden 44 

' ' struggles of 55 

' ' warfare w^ith, a cause of disease 55 

Liberties, thoughts of 102 

Manhood, princely, importance of 3 

Modesty, true 5 

' ' spurious 5 

Marriage, not good 39, 42 

" not demeaned by " necessit}' ," 46 

bed, satisfaction of, God's provision 46 

Non-celibatists, necessary 42 

'' JSTecessity" for indulgence 42, 46 

'^Necessity" a call of God's Providence 46 

Nervous fluid, waste of in amativeness 51 

Nymphomania 52 

Nymphomania, effects of 53 

Nature, course of in sexuality 89 

Organs, sexual 6 



INDEX TO PKTXCELY MANHOOD. 

PAGE. 

Ownership, reciprocal bodily 102 

Opportunity and importunity 106 

Passion-wants 12 

Pregnancy prevented 13 

Prostitution 23 

" prevalence of 24 

Pure, all things 45 

Purity, heart, ethereal 47 

Pernicious Literature 99 

" striking example of 100 

terrible power of 100 

Rest of soul in right sexual relations 84 

" *' '' inspiring experience of 80 

"■ ' ' " glorious 93 

'" "' " in contented contineiice=?7^-.^ 110 

Keveries, lustful, may be prevented 90 

Rights, personal 102 

of health 103 

' ' of self-respect 103 

Species, perpetuation of 9 

Self -abuse 15 

" prevalence of 16 

" " "in both sexes 19 

' ' consequence of 20 

Spinal irritation from self-abuse 21 

Syphilis 26 

three forms of 27 

" infectiousness of 28 

prevalence of 28 

effects of 28 

' ' tortures of 30 

Semen, loss of in copulation 31 

Satyriasis, fearful effects of ^ 25 



TNDEX TO PRINCELY MANHOOD. 

PAGE. 

Sanctified use of faculties 67 

Dis-usE of faculties 67 

" " thrilling experience 

of 68-80 

Solicitation to indulgence, power over 80 

Sexual motions cannot be avoided 88 

' ' tendencies must not be prematurely developed 96 

Temptation to be avoided 91-105 

children to be shielded from 98 

" " '' taught the significance of 99 

Thankfulness for amative sensations 108 

Ulcers, syphilitic 29 

Usefulness enlarged ... 94 

Virginity, voluntar}' 41 

Warfare against amative desire 48 

'' '' '' " detailed experience 
of ' 57-64 



i 



., I 






